Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 4: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has strongly condemned the killing of two youth in Chatergam area in a shootout and urged the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to put a stop to the unaccounted killings in Kashmir.
In a statement, the party president, Mehbooba Mufti said the killing of Faisal Ahmad Bhat and Mehraj-u-Din Dar adds only to the cold statistics of death in Jammu and Kashmir for which nobody is held accountable.
The PDP Chief said we are tired of condemning such incidents and demanding probes which have so far led nowhere. “It is time to restore full civil liberties in Jammu and Kashmir so that the residents of this State also enjoy the constitutional guarantees of dignity and right to life like other citizens of the country,” she added.
Mehbooba said the continued use of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) has generated an all pervading sense of impunity among the security forces as they feel beyond reproach for their conduct and some of them misuse their authority and weapons.
The PDP president said the State has travelled long since 1990 when this law was enforced to tackle the militancy in view of thousands of youth having taken to arms. “Now that the people of the State have repeatedly expressed their faith in democratic methods for safeguarding their rights such draconian laws are proving counterproductive,” she said and added that this law is now used more against civilians than militants who are only a few dozen in number now.
She said the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi must take a call on this law and use his decisive mandate as an opportunity to open a new chapter in Jammu and Kashmir by taking steps to revoke the AFSPA thus restoring the constitutional rights of the people living here. Continuation of unaccountable authority under AFSPA is proving counterproductive day by day, she added.
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