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| Assembly sets healthy trend | | | Unexpectedly the Jammu and Kashmir As
sembly set a healthy trend when it
passed a unanimous resolution asking New Delhi to order a time-bound probe into the former Army Chief Gen VK Singh's allegations that ministers in JK were on the payrolls of Army.The one-line resolution moved by the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was passed by the House after his speech in which he said political institutions in J&K were facing serious danger and mainstream politicians were hit by credibility crisis in the wake of the explosive accusations. When the Assembly session had started legislators voiced their concern over the allegations leveled against the state ministers by the former Army Chief saying that some ministers were being paid money for ensuring peace.Though Gen.Singh had not made a specific allegation against Minister for Agriculture,G.H.Mir,his critics were quick to accuse him of having received Rs.119 crores for toppling the Omar Abdullah led Government.In support of their contention Mir's critics had referred to the civilian strife during the summer of 2010.Even though Gen.Singh had later clarified that he Army had not paid any money to Mir or others for toppling the NC led Government the chorus against Singh and Mir failed to die in Jammu and Kashmir.In the initial stages of the session members had moved a breach of privilege against Gen.Singh demanding that he be summoned to the court of the House.Such a demand and the very summoning of the former Army Chief could have caused embarrassment for the state and he central Governments and Gen.Singh.Luckily the Speaker of the Assembly,Mubarik Gul,saw to it that no such emabarrassment was caused to any Government and he Army.And the state Assembly did the right thing by placing the ball in the court of the central Government.It has left it to the Centre to hold the inquiry into the entire gamut of Gen.Singh's disclosures and strong denials by the ministers in Jammu and Kashmir.
G.H.Mir has denied all the allegations.Making his statement over the revelations by former Army Chief Gen V K Singh against him and other JK politicians, Mir has said nobody was Army's agent in the Legislative Assembly and that he has done nothing wrong.He made it clear that.no country can survive without its army as territories need to be protected. He has stated that when militancy was at its peak, Army played a vital role in bringing normalcy after which politicians again joined the fray. Nobody is agent here. All of us are here with the active support of people," Mir said.
He said when allegations are leveled against each other, suspicions arise."If we have credibility only then we will survive in politics," Mir said. He said that he hasn't done anything wrong. "I have done nothing that would force my colleagues here to put their heads down in shame," Mir said
Surprisingly,a senior PDP leader has come to the rescue of Mir. Muzaffar Hussain Baig has said the former Army chief Gen V K Singh has literally defamed the Army as an institution by stating that Rs 1.19 crore were given to JK minister Ghulam Hassan Mir to topple the democratically elected government in the state.
He quickly went on to add that it was not possible to pull down a democratically elected government with the help of an amount that can't even satisfy a Sarpanch.Participating in the discussion on Gen Singh's explosive payoff revelations in the Legislative Assembly , Baig posed a question " is the government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah so weak that it could be toppled with just Rs 119 crores?" But Beg's defence did not seem to have convinced the volatile Sheikh Mustafa Kamaal of National Conference. Kamaal said that continuation of Ghulam Hassan Mir, who allegedly took money from Army under conspiracy to topple the J&K government, in the State Cabinet was an insult to the J&K government and the 'party which nurtured him.'
Taking part in the discussion in the Legislative Assembly on former Army Chief General VK Singh's allegations that JK ministers were on Army payrolls, Kamaal said it was unfortunate that a Minister tried to topple the government he is part of.
"This (allegation) is a blot on him. He should take moral responsibility and resign from the Cabinet," Kamaal said. "His continuation in the Cabinet is not only an insult to the government but the Constitution as well as the party which has nurtured him."Well it seemed that Kamaal had political interest in berating Mir but he should have learnt a lesson or two from Muzaffar Hussain Baig who did not slide Mir with whom the PDP has no cordial ties.Kamaal should have sensed that the issue pertaining to Gen.Singh's disclosures was quite sensitive and ticklish warranting decent response.
Trying to denigrate Mir, Kamaal was also painting the Army in black colours.Anyway the legislators deserve credit for having avoided any further confrontation between the Government and Gen.Singh,who will continue to be treated as the former Army Chief. The Jammu Kashmir Assembly's resolution needs to appreciated because the tone and the tenor of the resolution has accorded the final authority to the Central Government to hold the inquiry.And Chief Minister,Omar Abdullah,has informed the legislators that he has also written a letter to Prime Minister,Manmohan Singh,requesting him to order an inquiry into the charges leveled by Gen.Singh.Since the char ges were of serious nature Omar has favoured a time bound probe.Whatever one may say the controversy has been kept under the carpet. |
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