CM won’t step down on PDP’s “political drama” over NC activist’s death: Rather

‘Govt has announced judicial probe; PSO’s transfer is a separate issue’

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Oct 2: Minister of Finance, Abdul Rahim Rather, today made it unambiguously clear on behalf of the state government that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah would never step down on the “political drama” PDP, according to him, had enacted over the death of a National Conference (NC) activist, Syed Mohammad Yousuf, here on Friday last. He strongly refuted media reports and some opposition parties’ statements which have created an impression that the NC activist had died due to perpetration of physical torture on him at the Chief Minister’s residence.

In the government’s first frontal response to PDP’s accusation of custodial killing against Chief Minister and Minister of State for Home, Nasir Aslam Wani, Finance Minister and senior NC leader, Abdul Rahim Rather, made it clear at a hurriedly organized news conference that there was no question of Mr Omar Abdullah’s resignation.

“Chief Ministers don’t step down on unsubstantiated allegations. Without getting into the controversy of circumstances that led to (Yousuf’s) death, Chief Minister promptly announced a judicial inquiry as a party worker, called to his camp office, had died. Government immediately requested Chief Justice to spare a sitting judge of J&K High Court for conducting the investigation. What else does PDP want?” Rather asked. He asserted that neither Chief Minister nor MoS Home, Nasir Aslam Wani, had any involvement in the NC activist’s death.

Contrary to Government spokesman’s first statement on the death on Saturday, Mr Rather, however, did not claim that Yousuf had died of “massive cardiac arrest”. He asserted that truth would prevail at the end of the day as an independent judicial inquiry by a senior judge of High Court would make everything crystal clear. He gave a carbon copy of the official spokesman’s narration that Yousuf had been called for the settlement of a dispute with two other NC activists, all the three passed on to CM’s camp office, went through a confrontation, came out without any sign of physical torture and faced questioning at an office of Crime Branch.

According to Mr Rather, Yousuf later complained of nausea, went for a medical check up to Police Hospital and was also treated at SMHS Hospital. His death occurred next morning. He said that the authorities constituted a team of the forensic medicine experts of Government Medical College who conducted post mortem under audio-visual coverage. Cause of the death would become clear only after compilation of the post mortem report. “If the crime of death in custody is established, our government would take necessary action against whoever, howsoever powerful, involved in it”, Rather clarified.

While as after his return from Chennai, Chief Minister attended a tourism-related event at Gulmarg in company of his father, Dr Farooq Abdullah, and MoS Home and Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, Rather was flanked at the Banquet Hall news conference by CM’s advisors, Mubarak Gul and Devinder Singh Rana, besides Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Mohammad Sagar. Immediately after the press conference, NC’s top leadership remained closeted to draw strategy as to how the party in the hot seat of power would respond to PDP’s aggressive campaign on this particular issue. By this evening, it became clear that PDP would be moving an adjournment motion in Legislative Assembly on Monday, seeking a detailed discussion on Yousuf’s “custodial killing” besides Chief Minister’s and MoS Home’s resignation.

Rather at the press conference charged PDP with “playing politics” over the death of the NC activist. “He was dear to us all. He belonged to our party. We are all shocked over his death”, Rather said. Referring to PDP’s legal luminary and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig’s statements, Rather said: “He is a lawyer by profession and he has every right to raise such issues. But it does not behove a high profile politician of Mr Baig’s stature to make mountain out of a molehill”. He asserted that PDP’s demand of CM’s resignation was in no way acceptable to his party and government.

When it was pointed out to him that even an FIR had not been registered by Police, Crime Branch and any other organisation, Rather argued that the judicial commission would take all necessary action according to its observation. In reply to another question as to why several of CM’s security guards and radio operators had been shifted to other places dramatically on Friday itself, Rather insisted that there was no correlation between Yousuf’s death and transfer of CM’s PSOs. “It’s CM’s discretion as to who should be his PSO and who should not”, Rather asserted and urged media not to read too much in “routine administrative matters”.

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