16-Jul-2024 09:20 PM
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Srinagar, July 16 (Reporter) Amid the rise in attacks in the Jammu region, former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday demanded immediate sacking of J&K Police's top cop.
She said it was unfortunate that there was no accountability over the killing of soldiers in the Jammu region.
“…There is no accountability. By now the heads should have rolled. The Director General of Police should have been sacked. Almost 50 soldiers have lost their lives in the last 32 months,” Mufti said while addressing a press conference in Srinagar.
There has been a spree of attacks on forces in Jammu in the recent past and the latest one came on Monday evening which left four army personnel including an officer dead in Doda district’s Desa forests in Jammu.
Mufti leveled serious charges against the DGP R R Swain, alleging he was more busy in “fixing things politically”.
“The present DG is more busy with fixing things politically. His job is to break the people of PDP and how to harass people and journalists… The passports and verifications have been weaponised. They are finding ways to impose the UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) on people... We don't need a fixer here, we need a DGP. We have had DGPs from outside (other states) before and they have worked very well. No one has worked on such lines like things are being done now," she said, accusing him of “treating Kashmiris as Pakistanis".
Mufti's outburst came a day after DGP Swain, while speaking at a function at IIM Jammu, blamed regional parties for Pakistan’s ‘successful’ infiltration into the Kashmiri civil society.
“There is ample evidence to show that many had mastered the art of running with the hare and hunting with the hound, which left both the common man and the security forces bewildered, frightened, and confused,” he said on Monday.
Mufti hit back at Swain, saying he wants to “hide his failures and hide behind the mainstream and regional political parties.”
She said it was not the job of politicians to stop infiltration.
"While there is infiltration from Pakistan, what is the DGP doing? Is it my job or Omar Abdullah’s job to stop the infiltration? Who is at the borders? Who has to deal with the situation?” she asked.
"Soldiers come to Kashmir for their duty but go back in coffins. Who is responsible for this … They rather blame the mainstream parties," PDP chief Mufti said.
She accused the DGP of militarising the police force.
Mufti said who had stopped the DGP from acting against the militants, especially as the Centre has been directly ruling Jammu and Kashmir for the last six years.
“He (Swain) should know that the party for which he is working, their ideologue, (former) Deputy Prime minister L K Advani talked to them (separatists) who they have put into the jails,” she said.
Mufti said it was a big slap for the government when Engineer Rashid won the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat.
“ In North Kashmir, people preferred to elect a voice that speaks about self-determination and plebiscite. The nationalist forces were not elected. They want to conceal their shortcomings,” she said.
Mufti appealed to Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to take note of the terror attacks and casualties in Jammu and Kashmir, and fix accountability.
“The maximum casualties have been reported since the present DGP took over," Mufti claimed.
Apart from Mufti, People’s Conference Chief Sajad Lone strongly condemned the recent comments made by Swain, calling them "inappropriate" and "intolerable" in any functioning democracy.
In a post, Lone stated: "the comments made by the DG J&K Police about mainstream parties are inappropriate, to say the least."
Lone criticised the DGP's remarks, stating that even in a basic, rudimentary functioning democracy, such utterances by a serving police officer would not have been tolerated.
"Such statements by serving officers are an indication of the disdain and contempt for anything remotely about democracy. Such sad state of affairs and even sadder is the fact that the scriptwriters of this sad state of affairs take pride in having brought J&K to this level," Lone concluded...////...