Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Apr 9: Oppo-sition National Conference (NC) president Dr Farooq Abdullah and its working president Omar Abdullah today lashed out at State and Centre Governments and Election Commission of India (ECI) over handling of situation in poll-bound areas and said they have failed in creating conducive environment for polling.
Farooq told reporters at his residence that the by-elections should have been peaceful but Government failed to provide peaceful atmosphere to the voters. “See, the election should have been peaceful. That is what elections are”, he said.
“People have to show their presence and support to whoever they want to. That is the first and foremost thing about freedom of this nation. People have fought for this vote and they should be able to utilize this vote but unfortunately this Government has failed in giving that peaceful atmosphere to the people so that they can come out and vote,” he said.
The NC president, who cast his vote at Burn Hall School at Sonwar along with Omar and his daughter, said the killings and injuries reflect the extent of situation that has worsened. He accused Government of threatening the youth before polls to enforce boycott. “The tragedy is Government is frightening them (youth). That is a problem… We caught people (and) they were sending letters (and) they all belong to PDP and not to any other organization”, he said.
“I mean even Hurriyat said want to boycott election. They said no, don’t do anything. Those who want to vote let them do it,” he said. Farooq hoped that people will make him successful in the by-elections. “I hope to God, Insha Allah (God Willing) we have put our point of view before people. Now it’s for people to decide,” he said.
In reply to a question, the NC president said it is the propaganda of New Delhi that he changes his stand which however is not the case. “Farooq says one thing in Delhi, one thing in Jammu and one thing here (in Srinagar). Farooq has never done that. He has stood by what he stands for and he has kept on with that thing. I have never changed,” he said.
Farooq, reiterated that stone-pelters in Kashmir are fighting for ‘freedom’. “What else they are fighting for? They are not fighting for themselves. They are fighting for the cause of Kashmir. They want a final peaceful settlement,” he added. The NC president said not only Jamaat-e-Islami but he seeks support against RSS from everyone.
“I seek support from everyone. Why do you target only Jamaat-e-Islami? What I am fighting for is something important for them also. Whether we will survive as a Muslim-majority State or we will be over-run by the communal forces. That is what I am fighting for,” he said.
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told reporters at his residence that this is for the first time that the situation has worsened so much on poll-day during last 20 years. “You are seeing no voting. I know generally Parliament elections here have a lower turnout than Assembly or Panchayat. But even in 2014, almost 26 percent of the people came out. They voted freely. There was no pressure on them to vote. But there was no pressure on them to stay at home,” he said.
Omar blamed State Government, Centre as well as ECI for worsening situation in the Valley. “Today, unfortunately the State Government and by extension the Central Government and then the Election Commission have failed the people of Srinagar Parliament constituency in as much as the level of violence will indicate that they have been unable to provide conducive atmosphere for people to decide whether they want to vote or not,” he said.
He alleged that people were not able to come out for casting their vote due to violence. “Today there are large areas from where my own workers are calling, saying look we want to go out and vote but the environment is such that we are not able to cast our vote (because) stone pelting is going on, firing is going on, that other violence has broke out,” said Omar.
The NC working president said the killings indicate you how badly mishandled the State has been in last two years and particularly during the last few months.
“You remember few weeks ago when I had a press conference to announce the two candidates for this election …At that time I made it very clear that as political parties it is our decision to participate in the elections but it is the responsibility of the Election Commission and the Government to ensure that we have conducive atmosphere here to campaign and voter has conducive atmosphere to decide whether he or she wants to cast vote or not.”
Omar said “unfortunately the State Government, the Central Government and the Election Commission, they have failed the people of Jammu and Kashmir, particularly the people of Srinagar Parliamentary constituency and they have failed the nation as a whole in their ability to give people here conducive atmosphere for voting”.
“I have been an active politician for 20 years now. I have never seen such a bad environment for elections and I am talking about having fought my first election in ’97-’98 at the peak of militancy. Even then the environment for campaigning and voting was not as bad as it is today. That will in itself tell you how mismanaged the State is under Mehbooba Mufti,” he said, while slamming Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
Omar also lashed out at State Government over snapping internet services in the Kashmir and said: “Again an indication of mismanagement by this Government. This Government does not know what it is doing. The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.”
“There is not one Chief Minister, there are more than five Chief Ministers operating out of here today. There is no command and control. We saw this in the agitation of 2016, you are seeing it today. Please understand there is a systemic failure of administration. That is resulting in current environment and whether we like it or not the State of Jammu and Kashmir is rapidly going backwards which is indicated as I said by the environment in which this election was foisted,” he added.
Omar expressed apprehensions of large scale violence in South Kashmir on April 12 when the Anantnag constituency will also go for by-elections. “Look the South Kashmir was the epicenter of 2016 agitation and you can well imagine what will be the situation in South on April 12,” he added.
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