By IANS,
Srinagar : Mehbooba Mufti, president of opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir, Tuesday accused the state government of using police to address problems that need political solution.
Addressing a media conference here, Mufti said: “The state government has become so arrogant that it is running Jammu and Kashmir as a police state. The government seems to be at war with all sections of society, even traders are beaten if they agitate against increase in taxes.”
She feared that the situation could again deteriorate in the valley because of the attitude of the government.
“I fear the situation would worsen and our economy and the future of our children would again take a serious beating, unless the government changes its attitude of using police for every problem that needs a political solution. Even sports events and public interactions are now organised by the local police because there is no political initiative from the state government,” she said.
She said that the people were still not out of the shock over the custodial death of a youth in the valley last month when another shocker came from Surankote in the Jammu region Sunday.
“A mentally-challenged person was killed as a militant commander and later two security men were blamed for the wrong identification of the person,” she said, referring to the Jammu incident.
“If the identification had been wrong, where from did the arms and ammunition come which the security forces claimed were recovered from the slain person?” Mehbooba asked.
She also expressed doubts about the intentions of the state government to punish the real culprits behind the custodial murder of the 26-year-old youth in Sopore July 31.
“Two constables have been arrested for the murder. I want to ask whether people are taken into custody by constables on their own? Whether it is the constables who order and carry out the interrogation of persons under detention?”
“It is just under public pressure that the two constables were arrested in Sopore. The government is not interested in bringing the real culprits to justice,” she alleged.