Minister, NC leaders on streets ask CM to rein in killers, stone pelters

NC’s theatre of the absurd in Srinagar after Omar’s departure to overseas

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, May 2: For the first time in the last 16 months of the coalition government, ruling National Conference (NC) today organized a rally against the menace of stone pelting in Kashmir valley in which the party leaders, including a junior Minister, called upon Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to rein in the hooligans and bring to justice everybody involved in the killing a civilian in Batmaloo area on Friday last. Making frontal attacks on hardline separatists, particularly Syed Ali Shah Geelani, NC’s leaders organized the rally at a time when Chief Minister was on a foreign tour but the party patron, Dr Farooq Abdullah, was present in the summer capital.

‘Qatiloon kau pesh karau’ (get the killers arrested) was the main slogan of the NC leaders who gathered at the party headquarters of Nawai-e-Subah and marched to Regal Chowk on the fashionable Residency Road at 1030 hours. Nearly 2,000 of the NC activists were led by Kashmir Province president, Ali Mohammad Dar, MLAs and former Ministers, Dr Sheikh Mustafa Kamaal and Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, MLA Zadibal, Peer Afaq Ahmed, Sheikh Ghulam Ahmed Saloora as also MLA Amirakadal, Nasir Aslam Wani, who also happens to be Minister of State for Tourism and Urban Development. They urged their own government to strike on the stone pelters who had killed a 45-year-old civilian, Shafeeq Ahmed Shah of Nattipora, by crushing his head in a minibus with a weighty stone on Friday.

Even as authoritative sources today revealed to Early Times that two of the lead hooligans had been identified---one hiding in Batmaloo with his cellphone switched off and another’s mobile phone signals indicating his location in Pattan area of Baramulla district---Police had not made any arrests till late tonight. Sources said that a murder case has been registered at Police Station Batmaloo and efforts were strenuously underway to get the killers arrested.

High-pitch slogans shouted by the NC workers and carried on placards condemned those indulging in stone pelting and attempting to spoil a bustling tourist season in the Valley. The NC activists and leaders were unequivocally critical of the hardline separatist leaders, particularly Syed Ali Shah Geelani, as also pro-anarchy leaders of some mainstream political parties. They asserted that calls of shutdown after shutdown from certain separatist leaders were ruining Kashmir’s economy and perpetuating dark days in the conflict riddled state.

Since none other than Chief Minister happens to be the Home Minister and the man responsible for bringing the killers to justice, slogans of the participants of the rally were interestingly directed on Omar Abdullah. Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, is currently on a private foreign tour with his family. Party’s patron and former Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who is also Minister of New and Renewable Energy in the federal Cabinet, was present in Srinagar since yesterday. After the rally concluded, Dr Abdullah appeared at the ailing NC General Secretary Sheikh Nazir’s residence to enquire about his health before leaving for New Delhi in the afternoon.

Ali Mohammad Dar, Nasir Aslam Wani, Dr Mustafa Kamal and Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan addressed the rally at Regal Chowk, a business hub in Civil Lines.

NC’s rally with hardcore slogans and speeches against the ‘disruptionists’ came amid exchange of heated statements between two key confidantes of the former Chief Minister, namely Mohammad Shafi Uri and Sharief-ud-din Shariq, and the hardline Hurriyat Chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Even as Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is widely perceived to be in favour of adopting a soft stance vis-à-vis separatists—including stone pelters and their godfathers---Dr Abdullah has reportedly triggered off a campaign through statements of his senior colleagues against Geelani since last fortnight.

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