Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti was on Sunday booed at by a crowd, mainly the parents of students, outside an examination centre at Srinagar’s Moulana Azad Road Government Women’s Col
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti was on Sunday booed at by a crowd, mainly the parents of students, outside an examination centre at Srinagar’s Moulana Azad Road Government Women’s College, forcing her to make a hasty retreat.
The chief minister, accompanied by senior government officials, visited the centre where the State’s Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE) was conducting examinations for pre-medical and pre-engineering admissions. But when she came out of her car, many parents waiting for their wards outside the premises booed at her and began chanting pro-freedom and anti government slogans.
Some parents told reporters that they objected to the chief minister’s visit in the backdrop of recent killings in security forces’ firings and maiming and blinding of many others in the pellet gun use. Some others termed her visit “unnecessary” on the ground that it would disturb the candidates who were already tense due to prevailing situation in the Valley.
Officials, however, defended Ms Mufti’s visit saying she wanted to check the arrangements for the examinations.
An official handout issued here said that the Chief Minister also visited two other examination centres in the City. Out of 17,939 students who had applied for it, 16,315 appeared at the designated examination centres in the twin capitals of Srinagar and Jammu and the Chief Minister was quoted as saying that despite facing various hardships due to the prevailing law and order situation, the government machinery ensured almost 91 percent presence of students at these centre.
The Chief Minister called for introspection and said the people have to ponder over how the educational, economic and social structure of Kashmir is being systematically ruined because of the prevailing situation. “Our enterprising young boys and girls are not able to apply for KAS (Kashmir Administrative Services) examination, they are not able to avail of the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme, the educational and training institutions are shut, the tourism sector has taken a big hit, the development process has come to a standstill and the socio-economic condition of the people is deteriorating day by day because of the prevailing law and order situation,” she lamented.
She said there are instances in the history where various nations and communities including the Palestinians didn’t allow the education of their children to suffer amid conflicts and wars. “Ironically, in contrast, the first casualty of unrest in Kashmir has always been the education and the economy,” she said.
The Chief Minister said that instead of asking the Kashmiri youth to focus on education, they are being incited to take stones in their hands and attack whosoever comes their way. “A 70-year old poor street vendor who moves out of his home in the morning to earn the bread and butter for his starving family is being slapped by a 10-year old boy, young girls are being threatened that they will be torched alive along with their scooties (two-wheelers) if they move out of their home, people wearing decent clothes are being intimidated, respectable citizens are being humiliated and unsuspecting travellers are being pillaged in the name of protests,” the Chief Minister said. She added that such hideous activities are not only unacceptable but also unbecoming of a civilized society.
An obscure outfit calling itself ‘Sangbaaz Association Jammu and Kashmir, Azad Kashmir’ has named a few business establishments including a departmental store, a tea-shop and a bank warning them to desist from violating the shutdown calls or face consequences. It has also asked girls not to move out on their scooties or two-wheelers or these would be burnt down along with them. Similar threatening posters and leaflets have surfaced in the name of some known militant and separatist outfits in south Kashmir. But these outfits were quick to disown them, alleging various intelligence agencies and other vested interest are out to “create confusion’ and “defame the ongoing freedom struggle.”
Ms. Mufti said many forces have joined hands to vitiate the atmosphere and send innocent children to various localities to create trouble. “Those who have other ideology should also feel the pain of the younger generation getting affected. What do they want to achieve by this (violence) ” she asked.
Reiterating that the issues can be resolved only through dialogue and not through violence, the Chief Minister said violence has been rejected globally as a means to achieve political objectives. “The proponents of violent protests in Kashmir must also engage in dialogue to resolve the issues instead of perpetuating violence which has only brought death and destruction on their own people,” she said. She also said that Kashmir has already lost a generation of youth to the violence and can’t afford to bear with this tragic human loss for ever. “Everyone should feel the pain of the future generation,” she insisted.
She further said there was an “issue in the minds” of the people and it needs to be addressed. “Mufti Muhammad Sayeed used to say bullets and grenades cannot solve issues. Gun has not changed anything. There is no way out other than dialogue,” she said. She claimed that while the security forces have been able to contain the situation there was an issue in the minds of the people which needs to be addressed. “We brought in security forces and they contained the situation. But there is an issue which is in the minds. It has to be addressed,” she asserted.
Meanwhile, life remained paralysed in the Valley due to official curfews and restrictions or shutdowns called by separatists on the 23rd day on Sunday. A 17-year-old youth Ishfaq Ahmed Dar who was admitted to Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) with a severe head injury last week died on Sunday morning. While police said he had been injured after he fell from a tree, the youth’s family alleged he was beaten up by security forces during at protest demonstration in Sopore town, 48-km northwest of here, on July 23. Dr. A.G. Ahangar, Director SKIMS, was quoted by local news agency KNS as saying, “His brain was critically damaged as he was hit by (security) forces on his head. He could not sustain the head injury and succumbed to his injuries today.”
A report from southern Shopian said that five persons were wounded when security forces fired pellet guns to quell protesters in the district’s Imam Sahib area on Sunday afternoon. Three residents including a woman had been shot at by security forces during a protest at Imam Sahib on Saturday.
Meanwhile, curfew remained in force in five police station areas of summer capital Srinagar and Anantnag and Pulwama towns and parts of Baramulla and Shopian towns, officials said.
