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| Amid unprecedented pandemonium Speaker adjourns House | | | Bashir Assad
Jammu, Mar 12: Jammu and Kashmir Assembly today witnessed unprecedented pandemonium over Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's statement that the body of Guru would not be returned to his family.
It was perhaps for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly that the members from two communities confronted each other in the House. The opposition went berserk with PDP legislators while trooping into the well of the House climbed up on reporter's table as the BJP and NPP MLAs mounted over the benches of the first row shouting slogans. Independent MLA, Er. Rashid as usual threw mikes here and there. The CPI(M) and PDF leaders -lost in the noisy scenes- continued to protest over Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's reluctance to return Guru's body.
Demands for Grants for the departments of Finance and Ladakh Affairs were passed amid chaos and the House was adjourned till 3 pm. In the meantime, the BJP and NPP MLAs clashed with PDP while the Jammu based MLAs reverberating 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Vande Mataram' and PDP's Javed Mustafa Mir echoing Allah-hu-Akbar.
The trouble started as soon as the House met here today to take up normal business but opposition PDP, CPI(M), PDF and Independent MLA, Er. Rashid strongly protested the Home Minister's refusal to return the body of Guru. PDP MLAs led by Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari and MY Tarigami, Hakim Mohammad Yasin and Er. Rashid were demanding that either the Government should bring a resolution in the House seeking return of Guru's body to his family or the opposition shall be allowed to table the resolution and the Government should support and pass it. Though the Speaker tried to pacify the agitating legislators but the intensity of the protests forced him to adjourn the House first for about 20 minutes. When the House met again after the adjournment at about 11 am, the PDP, CPI(M), PDF and Er. Rashid again trooped into the first row with Sayed Bashir Ahmad and Javed Mustafa Mir in the well demanding a statement from the Government as to whether it was bringing a resolution in the House urging the GoI to return the mortal remains of Guru to his family for last rites.
This irked the Jammu based legislators of NPP and BJP who said that the House cannot be disrupted over the issue of a "terrorist who was hanged" for attacking the Parliament of the country. Amid noisy scenes, Ashok Khajuria cried that this was a deliberate attempt to weaken the "Bharat Varsh". When the protesting PDP MLAs walked into the well there was a brief verbal dual between Sayed Bashir Ahmad of PDP and Ashok Khajuria of BJP both accusing each other of doing politics on the issue. The Treasury benches were watching this all silently. Smelling the intensity of the sentiments running high on both sides, Speaker again adjourned the House for 10 minutes.
When the House met again, the emotionally charged legislators of PDP, NPP and BJP and Er. Rashid went out of control and the pandemonium reached its climax when Harshdev Singh of NPP climbed over the bench followed by Ashwani Kumar, Jugal Kishore and Balwant Singh Mankotia while on the other hand PDP MLAs, Peerzada Mansur Hussain, Javed Mustafa Mir and Choudhary Zulfkar stormed into the well and climbed over the table shouting slogans. Soon Jugal Kishore of BJP jumped on to the table and echoed Bharat Mata Ki Jai followed by Javed Mustafa reverberating Allah-Hu-Akbar.
Earlier, the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mir Saifullah rose to give statement on the issue and the opposition members were about to listen to him that he used the word Afzal Guru "Sahib" on which Harshdev Singh followed by other NPP and BJP MLAs shouted at Mir for using the word "Sahib" with Guru saying that the word cannot be used for a terrorist who attacked the Indian Parliament and was hanged.
Though Mir continued his statement on the issue, however, there was complete mayhem in the House with PDP pressing that a resolution shall be placed before the House seeking return of mortal remains of Guru and NPP and BJP shouting "Assembly ko bhang karo" (dissolve the Assembly).
Earlier, PDP leader Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, said the Government should bring a resolution in the House pressing for the return of mortal remains of Guru to douse the flames that have engulfed the State. He said Srinagar city has been changed into a prison and the people are so scared as if there was Martial Law in the State. He said it would be a litmus test for the Government as to whether it has really any concern about the life, honour and dignity of the people or it is part of the game plan.
MY Tarigami and Hakim Mohammad Yasin also demanded that the Government should bring a resolution in the House urging the Union Government to respect the sentiments of the people of the State and return the body of Guru to his family. On this Harshdev Singh seated next to Tarigami stood up and questioned the legality of discussing the issue in the while suspending the normal business listed for the day. "Is this the rule to discuss some issue and suspend the business of the House," Singh told Speaker. However, PDP legislators shouted back saying it was within rules to discuss the issue in the House. This was followed by massive uproar with PDP MLAs stormed the well and NPP and BJP shouting "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" |
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