Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Mar 1: While leader of the Opposition Mehbooba Mufti and the CPI (M) State secretary and MLA Kulgam, Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami justified their adjournment motions on return of Afzal Guru’s body, MLA Jammu West, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta and NPP leader, Harshdev Singh said that Guru’s sentence was in accordance to law of the land.
Talking to reporters soon after the Speaker Mubarak Gul adjourned the Assembly at 10:35 am this morning as total pandemonium prevailed in the House with the opposition PDP and CPI (M) demanding discussion on their adjournment motions on Guru and NPP MLA Harshdev Singh and BJP’s Jugal Kishore Sharma pressing their Party’s adjournment motion on Chamel Singh, Ms Mehbooba Mufti said that by not allowing the Opposition to have a debate on the return of Afzal Guru’s body indicated that it was suppressing the democratic rights.
Accusing the Government of failure on all fronts including curbing corruption and giving a good administration, the PDP leader said that coalition should resign on moral grounds.
“We brought the adjournment motion demanding that the business of the House be suspended to discuss the Afzal Guru issue as it was a serious matter but the Government is making it a prestigious issue and they did not allow the discussion’’, she added.
Mehbooba alleged that J&K has been converted into a jail on this issue. Terming return of Guru’s body a humanitarian issue, she said it is a right of the family to get the body of Guru for performing the religious rites.
Taking a dig at the Government, she said they should learn from Punjab and Tamil Nadu. “Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal did not allow the hanging of killers of former Chief Minister Beant Singh. I don’t know whether this Government is working on remote control to please some quarters in Delhi and remain in power as every thing is being discredited here’’, she added.
She said such policies add to further alienation of people of Valley and majority of them remain away from mainstream.
She asked why the Chief Minister did not discuss the nitty-gritty of the issue earlier.
Mehbooba said had her father or any other Chief Minister been there they might have persuaded Delhi that hanging of Guru was neither in the national nor in the interest of J&K and no CM would have agreed hanging him.
Taking the Government to task for not giving security to Sarpanchs and Panchs in the State, she said there are some areas which are vulnerable and where Panchayat members need security. But unfortunately this Government has all wrong priorities. They wanted to hold elections and not to empower the Panchayats, she added.
Justifying the opposition demand of handing over the Guru’s body to his family and bringing of adjournment motion, Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami said it is a cause of concern for the people. “ We wanted to have the debate. We can’t avoid it as this has happened and the people wanted that the issue be discussed as situation is grave’’, he added.
He said by not allowing the House to have a discussion over the matter which is not debated in our State only but entire country means depriving the House of its right.
In reply to a question that Government has stated that the issue is being discussed at PM’s level so it can’t be discussed in the House, Tarigami said “PM will discuss it on his own but we have a right to discuss it in the House’’.
He said his Party has moved the Motion yesterday and we gave enough time to Speaker.
However, Chaman Lal Gupta, accused the PDP of playing vote bank politics on return of Guru’s body.
He said from legal point of view the mastermind of Parliament attack was given full chance to defend him self. He appealed in High Court, Supreme Court and also filed a mercy petition before the President of the country which was rejected, he added.
He said, the PDP argument that Guru should not have been hanged is nothing but vote bank politics. “If the adjournment motion is discussed in the House still it will have no difference as it will meet the same fate as the earlier resolution moved by then NC Government led by Dr Farooq Abdullah on autonomy met’’ he added.
He said in the para 3 of the Constitution it is mentioned that J&K is an integral part of India so no decision of Union Government can be challenged.
Prof Gupta said the NC-PDP are befooling the people as they are in race for one upmanship and any discussion on the Guru issue is just to divert the energy of the House.“ I am not personally in favour of the resolution’’, he added.
Harshdev Singh of NPP said the PDP has moved the adjournment motion on Guru and not talked about Chamel Singh who was brutally killed in Pakistan on January 15 and whose body has not yet been handed over to India.
He said his Party and BJP have brought the adjournment motion on the issue demanding that India should take up the matter with Pakistan and bring his body back to perform his religious rites.
“They talk about the return of Guru’s body who was involved in attack on Parliament and not about Chamel Singh who was a nationalist and who died for the national cause. His body has not been returned for last one and a half months’’, he added.
He criticized the Union Government for its failure for not lodging a protest against Pakistan against the killing of Chamel Singh whose dead body is lying in Jinah Hospital Pakistan where he was beaten to death by a rod.
He demanded that his body be brought back and handed over to his family for performance of last rites.
India returned their soldiers with honour who died in border firing in Nowshera Sector last time, he added.
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