Early Times REport
Jammu, Feb 25: Condemning the killing of fifth Sarpanch by suspected militants in Baramulla district, All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference, an amalgam of elected Panches and Sarpanches today held the state government 'responsible' for the killings " The state government is responsible for the killings of the Panchayat leaders so far," Shafiq Mir, Chairman of the Panchayat Conference in a statement issued here said. The AJKPC leaders who met here this morning alleged that all killings were caused due to the deliberate negligence of the state government which itself wants to fail the constitutional institutions so that the issue of power sharing dies once for all.
"There is no institution like government in the state and that is why the innocent elected people are dying helplessly and the so called state government acting only as mute spectator of the situation," Mir said. He said that Panchayat Conference cannot see its members dying everyday and will take a final decision soon in the executive body meeting soon. "Despite repeated representations for security cover to the threatened Sarpanches, Panches, the state government did not take any action which suggests that the government was deliberately making innocent Panchayat members as sacrificial lambs so that others get terrorised and submit their resignations fearing for their lives," he added. Conference general secretary Anil Sharma criticised both Centre and the state government for the failure in protecting lives of panchayat members. |
