NC responsible for problems in J&K: Sajad

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 16

People’s Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Tuesday held the National Conference (NC) responsible for the death and destruction in the Valley, saying that the party had nothing to showcase apart from “stolen elections, being Delhi’s ambassador in Kashmir and thousands of dead bodies”.

Addressing a rally, he said, “At the core of every misery and exploitation inflicted upon the Kashmiris since 1975, one can find an Abdullah link. From bartering our Wazir-e-Azam and Sadr-e-Riyasat for a toothless Chief Minister to enacting the Public Safety Act (1977), the NC has betrayed the Kashmiris at every critical juncture of history,” he said.

Sajad said the 1987 rigging by the NC became the immediate trigger for violence that gripped the state and devoured 1 lakh lives.

He also criticised the NC for “partnering” with the counter-insurgent, Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen, in 1996, offering it political rewards to ensure another grab of power. “During 1996-2002, Farooq Abdullah encouraged the chit system wherein a name was scribbled on a chit for elimination given to Ikhwan. The orders would come directly from the CM office. Farooq, who parades himself as a gentle old man is in fact a white-collar killer,” Sajad added.

The PC chairman claimed that the “same set of the NC leaders” over the decades were responsible for the death of the Dal Lake, deforestation, destroying education sector and health services, “rigged the elections, thrust gun on peaceful Kashmiris and eroding the special status”.

Appealing to the people of the Srinagar-Budgam constituency to vote for People’s Conference candidate Irfan Reza Ansari, Sajad said the curse of changelessness had to go and for that the people would have to make a decision.