NC activist’s death raises political storm
Speaker, Ansari trade filth over PDP’s motion
Justice impossible till accused are CM, MoS Home: Mehbooba
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
With his arrival in the House, Speaker initiated the proceedings of Question Hour without regard to an adjournment motion moved by a group of over one dozen MLAs of PDP. Leader of the Opposition and PDP President, Mehbooba Mufti, got up to assert that her party’s adjourn motion was of “extremely serious nature” as fingers were being directly raised over Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and union Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah in the alleged custodial killing of one Syed Mohammad Yousuf.
Speaker insisted that he would deal with the adjourn motion but not before completion of Question Hour. He asserted that there were “very important questions” in the list and pointed out that Question Hour had remained fully disrupted since beginning of the autumn session on September 26th. However, Mehbooba, joined by all of her party’s MLAs, remained unrelenting and made it clear that PDP would not allow any business until a full-length discussion was conducted over its motion.
Finding the Speaker not receptive, Mehbooba shouted that a political activist had been “murdered” at the Chief Minister’s house. “It’s a murder on money”, she yelled with full backing of her camp. Suddenly, members from the Treasury Benches also got up and there was a complete ruckus. Speaker, as well as Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Mohammad Sagar, failed to pacify the PDP members with their arguments.
With that PDP MLAs began shouting slogans like “Yousuf Ke Qatiloon Kau Pesh Karo” (‘take Yousuf’s killers to task’). As soon as PDP’s outspoken MLA, Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, began shouting and gesticulating in support of the motion, Speaker unleashed a no-hold-barred volley of filthy adjectives and invectives on him. Arguably unprecedented in over 50 years of J&K Legislature’s history, altercation between Speaker and Ansari went on air live through dozens of cameras of different television news channels. Indecent vocabulary and gesticulation raised eyebrows among people in Speaker’s Gallery, Officer’s Galley and Press Gallery. Even the marshals and officials of Assembly Secretariat were seen hanging their heads in shame. An incensed Ansari even threw a fan-stand towards Speaker but the missile was intercepted by a marshal.
Later, in another sitting, Speaker apologized for his behaviour and treatment meted out to Ansari. He claimed that he was a “clean and straightforward politician with all ordinary human weaknesses and emotions. He said that he held Maulvi Iftikhar in high esteem but his objectionable behaviour and gesticulation had invoked a reaction that was unwarranted by every argument. He ordered expunction of the entire spat between him and the PDP MLA but not to the satisfaction of the opposition.
Former Minister of Law and Deputy Minister, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, got himself recorded on several television news channels with his bitter reaction. “All of us must hang our heads in shame. We can tolerate everything from this Speaker but not publicly abusing of the daughter of our senior colleague who is also a prominent religious leader with tremendous following in the state”, Baig asserted.
Amid three adjournments of 20 minutes to one hour each, Speaker attempted to carry forward the scheduled business but failed to restore order in the face of slogans and counter-slogans between NC and PDP. In the initial round of clash, Congress MLAs joined hands with NC but later it was purely NC versus PDP. NC’s MLAs, including some members of the status of Minister, raised slogans holding the PDP supremo and former Chief Minister responsible for his Ministerial colleague Dr Ghulam Nabi Lone’s “killing” in a militant strike in Tulsi Bagh. “Lone Ke Qatiloon Kau Pesh Karo Pesh Karo”, they kept on shouting.
Speaker declared that some MLAs of PDP had submitted an adjournment motion under Rule 56, seeking adjournment of business and discussion of the death of Syed Yousuf on September 30th. He pointed out to Chief Minister’s assertion and said that Chief Justice was being asked to appoint a sitting judge for the investigation. According to him, discussion on the motion could “hamper and hinder the investigation”. His argument was strongly rejected by PDP. Thereupon, Speaker announced that the motion was being disallowed.
Registering its protest with statements, slogans and walk-outs, PDP maintained that it would not relent until Chief Minister, MoS Home Nasir Aslam Wani and even union Minister and NC’s President Dr Farooq Abdullah would step down. Mehbooba claimed that there was every possibility of their interference, influencing the inquiry and tampering with evidences as long as the accused held high government positions. She also dismissed Speaker’s argument and claimed that till date there was neither any FIR in the “custodial killing” nor any Government order of judicial investigation, let alone appointment of a judge as head of the inquiry.
Mehbooba alleged that Yousuf had been “eliminated” after he resisted beating by Chief Minister’s security guards and threatened to expose members of the Abdullah family, including Farooq Abdullah. She claimed that Yousuf was “very close” to the family, flew in helicopters with Chief Minister, conducted political transactions and also knew “much about the family”.
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Govt maintains Yousuf died of ‘cardiac arrest’
Omar claims innocence, initiates defamation suit against PDP chief
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
Addressing a crowded news conference after the final adjournment of today’s sitting on the Legislature lawns, Chief Minister said that he had decided to remain tightlipped on the death of his party activist as he feared it could impact the judiciary inquiry he had ordered suo moto. “But when I realized that my silence was being used against me, I decided to make a statement to make things clear”, Chief Minister said. He, however, added that he would not take any questions, either at today’s news conference or thereafter until the judicial inquiry was completed.
Claiming that neither he nor anybody of his family, party or government had even an iota of involvement in Yousuf’s death, Omar Abdullah said that in so-called rape-cum-murder case of Shopian in 2009, politicians and media had used his utterance (regarding prima facie observation) against him but, contrarily, today his silence was being used as a tool against him. He said that he would expect no good from his political detractors but made a passionate appeal to media not to report anything “merely on assumptions and unfounded allegations” or editorialize anything without substance.
According to him, there was no scope for the demand of his and his colleagues’ resignation as he had immediately after Yousuf’s death at Police Hospital
Chief Minister said it was unfortunate that instead of appreciating his action, politicians and mediapersons carried stories, creating an impression as if Yousuf had been tortured to death at his home. He said that a judicial commission alone would dig out the reality and he would have no hesitation in producing himself before the inquiry. “If anything indicating death (by torture) is established in post mortem or the investigation, anybody found guilty would have to face punishment”, he said.
“I have full faith in our judicial system and I’m sure that all the serious allegation leveled against me and my colleagues would prove to be baseless”, Omar said. He said it was utterly unfortunate that PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti had leveled serious allegation of “murder” against him which he would not contest in public. He disclosed that he had directed his lawyers to prepare and file a defamation suit in a court of law against Ms Mufti. He said that leveling baseless allegations and later revoking the same with apologies was characteristic of Ms Mufti’s party.
Chief Minister was flanked at the news conference by a number of his Cabinet colleagues, advisors and senior officials, including DGP Kuldeep Khoda.
Within hours, DGP Khoda and Principal Secretary Home, B R Sharma, disclosed at a hurriedly press conference this evening that the death certificate issued by doctors had also established Yousuf’s death as the result of “cardio respiratory arrest”. They said that the final medico-legal opinion was expected to become available from FSL in a few days.
Sharma and Khoda revealed that a case under section 420 RPC (cheating) had been registered and Crime Branch was investigating the allegation of the two NC activists against the third one who later died at hospital. They said that District Magistrate had already ordered inquest proceedings under section 176 CrPC. They made it clear that a murder case could not be filed in absence of indicators in the inquest. According to them, murder (section 302 RPC) could be added to Section 420 RPC in the same FIR if any evidence of Yousuf’s killing was found in the inquest or the judicial inquiry.
They released a statement of facts according to which Yousuf had come out without any marks of injury or complaint of physical torture from CM’s house, cooperated with IG Crime in the preliminary questioning but had later complained uneasiness following which he was treated at Police Hospital. They revealed that all medical investigation, including USG and ECG, were found alright but next morning Yousuf’s condition deteriorated suddenly and he was declared dead at 9.45 a.m.
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