J&K: Mufti, Lone criticize Omar for AFSPA fiasco

SRINAGAR: Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah is trying to blame everybody except himself for his countless "failures and follies" after he unceremoniously dumped his rhetorical Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) revocation demand.
"Unfortunately, Omar Abdullah's wavering stance on crucial issues during the past six years has reduced the CM's post to a mockery," Mehbooba said while addressing an election rally at Kulgam for her party's candidate Nazir Ahmad Laway.

Separately, Peoples Conference's Sajjad Gani Lone who filed his nomination papers from Handwara in south Kashmir said that why didn't Abdullah resign when Congress didn't support his endeavour to get AFSPA revoked.

"Raking AFSPA issue at the time of elections is a political stunt to woo voters. But Kashmiri voters are mature enough to understand this hypocrisy," he said.

Accusing Abdullah of never having made a serious effort for the revocation of AFSPA, the PDP president challenged Omar to come up with a single communication that he has made with the Centre during the past six years for revocation of the controversial law.

"He must know that governments don't function through rhetoric and verbal acrobatics, but call for tangible action," she said.

She alleged that Omar announced revocation of AFSPA "within two or three days" on October 21, 2011, in the aftermath of "(NC worker) Haji Yousuf's death in suspicious circumstances". "After that, the chief minister has been regularly diluting his stand on this important issue," she said.

Mufti said he continued to raise AFSPA as a slogan to cover his "failures on every front" and after dumping the issue for good, he is now trying to shift the blame on others including PDP. "As the chief minister of the state, Omar Abdullah was always well within his powers to revoke AFSPA in Jammu & Kashmir. All he had to do was to withdraw the Disturbed Areas Act, the AFSPA would have automatically gone," she said.

Lone said, "If Congress opposed his move to revoke AFSPA, why did he remain with them for six years. Just for the love of chair and to enjoy power. Now when people will hold him accountable in the elections he wants to pass on the buck to his friends which people have fully understood."