Srinagar, Aug 18 (KNS): The Government here on Thursday dared the NC led opposition to come forward for a joint strategy to reach out to the people at the grass roots and made it clear that this is the time for firefighting not playing battles for the mainstream parties to restore peace in the state.
Talking to KNS the Education Minister and Government spokesman Nayeem Akhtar while reacting to the demands of NC led opposition for judicial probe into the recent civilian killings and convening of an assembly session said that this is the time for firefighting for restoring normalcy and peace in the state.
Elaborating he said “let the opposition come forward and work out a joint strategy with the government for reaching out to the people at the grass roots. This is very crucial for political parties who are in the electoral field.
Everybody should understand the importance and relevance of unity among the mainstream parties”. On the opposition demand for probe into civilian killings by a retired Supreme Court judge Akhtar said “Chief Minister has said action will be taken wherever disproportionate use of force is established. In past probes have been ordered but there is no clue of such probes right now. The probes have been conducted but not taken to logical conclusions”.
Over the opposition demand on convening an assembly session he said “Presently the government is on a firefighting mode. We agree to the opposition demand but we have a lot of time to decide on the timing of meeting in the assembly and discussing the situation there”.
On the opposition demand over the use of pellet guns Akhter said “Not the politicians but the security experts are the right people to taken a decision on the use of pellet guns. The government has decided to phase out pellet guns and is working on it”.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp ChannelHe however said that the present government has inherited the pellet guns from the previous government which brought pellet guns to restore calm during 2010 unrest but reiterated government’s commitment to phase out pellet guns.
On the decision of the NC led opposition to meet the President of India to press hard for the demands the Education Minister said “The opposition can exercise the democratic right of meeting the President and apprising him about the situation. We welcome the decision but don’t oppose it”. Endorsing the opposition demand for dialogue with both the separatists and Pakistan Akhter told KNS “Dialogue with both the separatists and the Government Pakistan is on the points of agreement in the “Agenda of Alliance” on the basis of which PDP-BJP –Government was formed”
Regretting that Congress stayed away from the meeting called by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Srinagar but attended the all party meet called by Prime Minister in New Delhi only to shows inconsistency in its approaches in the present situation, Akhter also accused the National Conference too of showing inconsistency in approaches in the current phase of unrest . On the role of National Conference he said “Omar Abdullah as one of the senior most leaders of the state should have thought about holding a separate opposition conclave as this has sent out the message disunity among the parties who are in the electoral field. The message has not gone well down to the cadres of the parties at the grass roots. This is the time to show unity for the purposes of a joint reach out to people for restoring peace but not for entering into a political competition”. (KNS)