In a snub to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s efforts to find way out to the prevailing situation, the main Opposition National Conference (NC) on Wednesday described the exercise as “meaningless” and decided to stay out of it on July 21.
Meanwhile, in a letter to Parliamentary Affairs Minister AR Veeri, NC general secretary and legislator Ali Muhammad Sagar regretted that the CM saw it fit to call a meeting of civil society in Srinagar within days of protests breaking out but it took her almost two weeks to call a meeting of all political parties.
“In the meantime the number of dead and injured has continued to rise. It would have been better if the Chief Minister had responded to our party leadership’s offer of support earlier instead of waiting for the suffering and misery of the people to reach this level,” Sagar said.
Sagar highlighted the discordant voices in the ruling alliance especially within the PDP with regard to the prevailing situation and the recent gag on media. “Until a credible, effective and humane leadership is re-established in the state this All Party Meeting will prove to be a meaningless exercise,” Sagar wrote.
“I regret that NC is unable to participate under the circumsta-nces. The NC has already submitted a detailed memorandum to the Governor wherein steps to ease the tension have been mentioned,” sagar said. The CM has called an all parties meeting on July 21 to be held at SKICC for helping and restoring normalcy in the Valley. JKPCC, Independent legislators MY Tariga-mi, PDF chairman Hakeem Yaseen and former minister and DNP chairman Ghulam Hassan Mir have agreed to take part in the meeting. Former Chief Minister and NC working president Omar Abdullah met Governor NN Vohra here and apprised him about his own and his Party’sconcerns about the prevailing situation in the Valley, particularly issues relating to internal security management, role of the media and other matters.