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| Mehbooba visits Manzgam Says govt responsible for credibility crisis | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
Srinagar July 22 (KNS): Opposition Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti Friday alleged that Manzgam incident once again underlines failure of the state government to learn from its blunders and refusal to build an atmosphere of trust and accountability.
She was commenting on the incident today when she visited Manzgam to meet the 32 year old Ruqayya who had complained of having been abducted and raped.
Mehbooba reached Manzgam in Noorabad, Kulgam early in the morning. She walked up to the Gujjardar locality on the nearby hills and visited the home of the reported victim. She, however, found out that Ruqayya had been taken by police at 7 am and was still to be returned to her family. The people of the area having assembled in large numbers had become restive apprehending foul play in investigation.
Addressing the gathering Mehbooba urged them to remain peaceful in their quest for justice so that the ‘trigger happy’ government was not able to invent a reason for use of force. She agreed with the request of the crowd that she stay put in Manzgam till Ruqayya returned home.
Mehbooba left Manzgam around 3 PM only after confirming the lady was brought back to her home and after she had spoken to her on phone from Manzgam. Earlier, according to a PDP spokesperson, the IGP Kashmir, S M Sahai, came to Manzgam to plead Mehbooba to leave the village which she refused to do unless the lady was back home.
Mehbooba said the present government had created a credibility crisis for itself and the entire system that has shaken the confidence of the people in the institutions. “Had the government not mishandled and covered up the crime against two young women in 2009, the investigation into every incident would not have been viewed with suspicion” she said and urged the police to function in a purely professional and neutral way irrespective of government’s petty considerations.
She said if the government had allowed investigation of just one case of last year’s 120 killings by forces and taken that to logical conclusion the situation would have been completely different from the one prevailing now.
The PDP president said the government’s ‘callous attitude and incompetence’ was forcing people to agitate on every issue apprehending foul play.
“The same attitude had triggered unrest in Manzgam as the victim was reportedly in a distraught condition and in no position to be interrogated but still picked up by police. Instead of taking the local panchayat into confidence the victim was taken early in the morning fuelling further suspicion. And when people agitated, the security forces used their preferred methods of persuasion through lathicharge and teargas,” she said pointing out that some security men even indulged in stone pelting that resulted in most of the damage to public and private vehicles.
Reiterating her demand for a thorough probe into the allegation Mehbooba said there was no substitute to transparency if the shattered public confidence in institutional functioning was to be restored. She said government must come clean on all such incidents of dishonor and killings identify the culprits and have them punished. “Use of force to muzzle voices of protest had never worked and would not be effective in future as well” she cautioned the government.
Responding to the police claim that Mehbooba had been ‘rescued by it’ a spokesman of the party said police seems to be bent on following the government directive in its anxiety to forfeit all credibility. “The way the police had behaved in Shopian two years back always remind the people of how its methods of ‘rescuing the opposition leader’ are in fact meant to achieve objectives to the contrary,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that the situation is being used to target the opposition even though there is no doubt in the fact that the local population was adamant on Mehbooba staying on till Ruqayya had come home.” He regretted that police was allowing itself to become a tool in petty politicking by the government.
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