Srinagar: National Conference on Tuesday asked Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to clarify why she hadn’t taken any legal action in the Shopian killings incident despite accepting that they killed youth were civilians.
In a statement issued here, party spokesman asked the Government to clarify their stand as their silence was not only abjectly “shameful” but also indicate a complete “surrender to remain in power.”
“The Chief Minister tweeted accepting that the youth killed in Shopian by the forces were civilians while telling us that she was ‘distressed’ because of this incident. What the people would like to know is why no legal action has been taken by the State Government against the errant culprits when it has accepted the young men were not militants of OGWs but innocent civilians? It is not the job of the Chief Minister to sulk and hang her head in sorrow. She hasn’t been elected to be a mute spectator as civilians are killed – only to tweet her condolences. She is duty bound to hold the culprits accountable and if she chooses not to do so – this would be a serious dereliction of her constitutional duties yet again,” the spokesman said.
The NC State Spokesperson said besides the Chief Minister accepting the slain youth were civilians, the PDP MLA from Shopian too has categorically stated that the youth were civilians killed in a gruesome and deliberate manner. “When both the Chief Minister as well as her local MLA from Shopian are confessing that innocent civilians were gunned down by the security forces, why haven’t arrested been made and why hasn’t a specific, detailed FIR been filed against the errant troops?” the spokesperson asked the Government to clarify.
“This shameless surrender and silence comes in the aftermath of the State Government’s surrender on the earlier issue of the killing of the youth in Shopian on an earlier instance. The State Government in its status-report filed in the Hon’ble Supreme Court has said the name of Major Aditya doesn’t figure in the FIR. Copies of the FIR available locally and visible of social media clearly show Major Aditya’s name mentioned in the FIR. So has the State Government misled the Supreme Court or have they fudged the FIR in that case to save its skin and remain in power? Mehbooba Mufti on the floor of the Legislative Assembly assured the people that she would take that case to a ‘logical conclusion’? What ‘logical conclusion’ is this? Why is the State Government’s stand being represented in such a shoddy, half-baked and half-hearted manner in the Supreme Court despite the dramatic rhetoric of the Chief Minister in the Assembly? It seems like our State Government and Chief Minister are taking their dictations from either the BJP directly or a couple of aggressive, jingoist news channels”, the Spokesman added.
“It is incumbent upon the Chief Minister to clarify why she hasn’t taken any action in the killings of these civilians – which she has herself admitted and what her course of action on this and the previous Shopian FIR is. According the media reports, the Ministry of Home Affairs has admonished the Chief Minister for tweeting about the Shopian incident and other such cases and asked her to fall in line. Never in the history of the State has a Chief Minister been reduced to a rubber-stamp in such a humiliating manner. The Chief Minister is now, effectively, a captive of power”, the NC State Spokesperson added.
