Jammu: Demanding immediate release of the youth arrested in past few days in Kashmir, People Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti today condemned the intolerance shown by the state government.Intervening during question hour, she said Kashmir has been virtually converted into a prison where only Govt and its apologists enjoy freedom of and that there is geniue sense of alienation among the people as teenagers are arrested under draconian laws and the place has been virtually handed over to police and security forces.
Bandipore police has arrested several boys and one of them
is booked under PSA and two among them has been sent to juvenile detention centre because their age is below 13 years. PSA was slapped on Arif Hussain wani on Jan 31 and he is in Udhampur Hospital in serious condition. Mehbooba said imprisonment of teenagers, who should have been in school is the real poster of present government’s performance.
Mehbooba said there is sense of anger in Kashmir and even liberal section of the Indian society that Afzal Guru had been wronged by picking him out of the death roll from 28th number to fit into the political strategy of the ruling party. She said subsequent relief by the Supreme Court granted to the convicts whose execution has been commuted has further deepened the feeling of anger and discrimination among the people.
“Instead of trying to empathize with the public sentiment, the state govt let loose its might on mourners who wanted to express sympathy with Guru’s family who were jdenied even the most elementary facility and their right to meet the executed prisoner even on last time”, said Mehbooba.
Mehbooba said it has been the practice of the present govt to use curfew and curbs as the substitute to democratic method of engaging with alienated people,listen to their feelings and respond with understanding and compassion. She said govt has lost the argument on human rights violation and has lost moral courage to engage with our own people on decent and civilized live. “It has tried to inflict a peace of graveyard on Kashmir through draconian laws, arrests, police cases, persecution, chilly grenades and pellet guns which has stopped evolution of a democratic culture in the state”, she said.