Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Sept 10: National Conference on Saturday expressed grief and shock over the killing of three youth in South Kashmir and that of a CAPD driver in Srinagar and said that the situation was deteriorating with every passing day.
In a joint statement, issued from the party headquarters in Srinagar, NC leaders alleged that `insensitive’ comments and speeches by the Chief Minister were adding fuel to a fire that threatened to engulf the entire State.
Senior NC leaders, including NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar, NC vice president Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, Mubarak Gul, NC provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani, Sakina Ittoo, party Legislators Abdul Majeed Larmi, Altaf Kaloo, Dr Bashir Ahmed Veeri and Showkat Hussain Ganai expressed their solidarity with the families of those youth who had lost their lives in the current unrest and said today’s fresh specter of brutality had demolished all assurances of the State and the Central Governments.
“One of the youth who lost his life today was shot at with a pellet gun and was declared brought dead at the hospital – yet again proving that pellet guns continue to devour our youth. The State as well as the Central Government has defended the use of pellet guns. The State Government defended their use in the High Court calling them ‘modern weapons’ while Union Minister V K Singh has called the use of pellet guns ‘sensible’. How many Kashmiri youth have to be devoured before this brutality stops?”, the joint statement read.
The NC leaders also expressed grief and sorrow over the killing of a youth by drowning in Anantnag and of another youth who was killed in Shopian and said the Chief Minister’s repeated exhibitions of insensitivity and ruthlessness were beyond shocking. “While our youth are being killed like cannon fodder, our Chief Minister continues to ride scooties in Jammu and talk about her love for ‘gol-gappas’. This is extremely shameless and shows her utter contempt for the grieving families”, the joint NC statement said.
The NC leaders said there was no realization in New Delhi and that the Central Government’s denial and insensitivity was cushioned by the Chief Minister’s repeated mocking of the pain and anguish in Kashmir.