By IANS
Jammu : Jammu and Kashmir’s legislative assembly was adjourned Thursday till Jan 28 as the opposition parties did not allow the house proceedings to take off demanding resignation of two ministers allegedly involved in corruption cases.
Opposition members were insisting on dismissal of Finance Minister Tariq Hameed Karra and Forest Minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal. However, Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig ruled out their resignations saying there was no indictment of the ministers by an inquiry commission that probed irregularities in forest department and Jammu and Kashmir State Forest Corporation.
B.R. Kundal, presently chief secretary of the state government, headed the commission.
Speaker Tara Chand adjourned the house for an hour when the members assembled for the day’s business, as the opposition National Conference and Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party members trooped into the well of the house.
National Conference members did not allow the proceedings to take place when the house again met after an hour’s adjournment. The speaker later adjourned the house till Jan 28.
Opposition leader Abdul Rahim Rather said his party that has 25 members in the 87-member assembly would not allow the house to function until the two “tainted” ministers were removed.
“We cannot be a witness to the vulgar display of corruption in the government,” Rather said. “Either government accepts our demand or faces us in the house.”
National Conference members in the upper house also protested but the chairman did not adjourn the legislative council.
The PDP has made it clear that since its ministers have not been named in the report, it would not brook the demand of the opposition. “They (opposition members) cannot have their way in this manner,” Baig said.