Jammu/Srinagar/Rajouri, Sept 20
The ruling National Conference today sought to target the Army by blaming it for undermining democracy after a media report alleged former Army Chief General VK Singh (retd) had set up a unit to dislodge the Omar Abdullah government in 2010.

The party demanded a judicial or a CBI probe into the role played by the Army in an attempt to topple the state government. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s two confidants — Jammu provincial president Devinder Singh Rana in Rajouri and his Kashmir counterpart Nasir Aslam Wani in Srinagar — along with his uncle and party’s additional general secretary Sheikh Mustafa Kamal in Jammu launched a combined onslaught on the Army.

Rana and Wani said the party had taken a “serious view” of the media report that alleged that an Army unit misused secret funds during General VK Singh’s (retd) tenure and demanded a time-bound inquiry to bring out the truth. They also sought to make the probe report public.

The Jammu provincial president further demanded “punishment” for those found guilty. “We demand a judicial probe under a sitting judge of the Supreme Court or at least by the CBI,” asserted Wani.

He said all those “involved overtly or covertly” be made public and punished.

Referring to the situation, particularly in the Valley, in the summer of 2010, Wani said “these protests that spiralled vindicate our stand that the entire 2010 could also have been orchestrated”.

Wani said the state had suffered at the machinations of people trying to “demean the elected government and this alleged report substantiates that there are people who want to dent the credibility of democratic institution that India is known for”.

Mustafa Kamal blamed the Centre for giving a “free hand” to the Army and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in the Valley.

He accused the Centre of making attempts to weaken the party in the state to have the Chief Minister of its choice.

The party demanded state Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir’s resignation on moral grounds after his name surfaced in the Army inquiry report.

Mir had defeated Kamal from the Tangmarg segment during two consecutive Assembly elections of 2002 and 2008.