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| It’s time for peace in J&k : Mehbooba | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, June 21- Stressing for meaningful and substantial measures to redress the grievances of the general masses, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti has said that Jammu and Kashmir had suffered too long and it was now time for an honorable and dignified resolution of the problem. Addressing a public meeting at Wakoora in Ganderbal today to carry forward the party campaign for revocation of AFSPA and demilitarization of civilian areas, Mehbooba said violence and political instability in the state had caused deep scars and resulted in countless tragedies. She said it was the belief of her party that in order to create an atmosphere conducive to resolution, substantial measures to restore the confidence of people in J&K were unavoidable. “And nothing more meaningful could be thought of than allowing people to live their life without the intruding presence of security forces who are empowered even to kill without any accountability”, she stressed.
Referring to the Party’s campaign against the draconian laws, PDP president said it was a welcome sign that even those who had initially ridiculed the demand as “hollow slogans” had now fallen in line. Even the Working Groups constituted by the Prime Minister had endorsed the demand; she said and added that it was now a political and moral responsibility of the Prime Minister to implement the recommendations.
Mehbooba said that people of the state had emphatically rejected violence as a means of their political struggle, but that should not be taken as a license to push the problem once again under the carpet. The Union government, she said, should respond to the faith we reposed in democratic process through substantial measures as the time for mere promises and consideration had passed. “Nothing short of revoking AFSPA and demilitarization of civilian areas could signal seriousness of government’s intentions to solve the problem once for all”, she added.
Mehbooba said as long as the security forces enjoyed the legal cover under AFSPA it was impossible to arrest the rising trend of human rights violations. She said in spite of initiating action in some cases the government could not proceed against the uniform personnel even where cases had been proved beyond a shadow of doubt. She sad there has been no headway in the fake encounter case that took place in Ganderbal a couple of years back in which innocents were shot dead by men in uniform just to grab promotions and rewards. Similarly, in the infamous Pathribal case the courts are finding it impossible to punish the accused who have taken refuge under the AFSPA. These instances, she said, make it clear that the special laws are creating more problems than they solve and need to go immediately.
Explaining the significance of the economic agenda of her party as envisaged in the Self Rule document Mehbooba said the economic distress faced by us cannot be stemmed unless our resources are fully restored to the state. She said the state was losing an estimated revenue of Rs 6000 crores annually as a result of the unfair exploitation of our water resources which is much more than we would need to take care of our development needs, and added that no one here would remain unemployed if we had the freedom and facilitation to harness our resources.
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