M A I N   N E W S

Free-for-all in J&K House; MLA hurt
Chaos prevails over creation of new admn units
Speaker adjourns Assembly
Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 11
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly today witnessed unprecedented ruckus over the creation of new administrative units, forcing Speaker Mubark Gul to adjourn the House for the day.

Mushtaq Ahmed Shah, PDP MLA from Tral, was injured in the scuffle between the legislators and marshals.

As the House assembled , PDP MLAs began shouting slogans. They came near the Speaker’s podium to protest the “discriminatory” distribution of administrative units.

Despite the Speaker’s assurance that he would take up the matter after question hour, the MLAs remained unrelenting. They held placards and demanded the government’s explanation for ignoring the “deserving” areas.

The BJP, Panthers Party, Jammu State Morcha (JSM) and Peoples Democratic Forum (PDF) also joined the protest. The entire Opposition was seen shouting slogans against the state government. Holding a placard, even Deputy Speaker Sartaj Madni stood up to register his protest. The Speaker then adjourned the Assembly for 15 minutes. When the House re-assembled, the situation didn’t improve, forcing the Speaker to adjourn it again. At 12.18 pm, the House re-assembled after a 30-minute adjournment.

The Speaker asked leaders of Opposition parties to give their demands in writing.

PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, BJP member Jugal Kishore Sharma, Panthers Party leader Harsh Dev Singh and PDF member Hakim Yasin highlighted discrimination against their respective areas.

The situation turned for the worse when PDP MLA Mustaq Ahmed Shah of Tral Assembly segment got injured when he was pushed by a marshal and fell on a chair. Then, PDP MLAs started throwing chairs, tables and mikes resulting in complete bedlam in the House, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House for the day. The injured MLA was taken to the health centre of 
the Assembly. He was shifted to the Government Medical College, Jammu, after first aid.

The Legislative Council also witnessed a similar protest when PDP members created an uproar over the “irrational” distribution of administrative units.