Srinagar: Accusing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of supervising the massacre of thousands of youth in Kashmir when he was the home minister of India, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he is the biggest oppressor and tormentor in the history of the state.
Omar, who is also the working president of National Conference (NC), said, "It was none other than Sayeed who brought Armed Force Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Governor Jagmohan to Jammu and Kashmir and it was his party that sabotaged all efforts on the revocation of the act."
Without naming retired Ashiq Bukhari, Omar said, "When today Sayeed has unabashedly welcomed a recently retired Police Officer, who was at the forefront of the police response in 2010 unrest, into his party, he (Sayeed) has yet again exposed his bent of mind and ideology before the people.
"Sayeed should answer clearly - how can he ever express remorse over the loss of lives in 2010 - when he has welcomed a certain SSP into his ranks," Omar said.
Omar, however, forgot to mention that he was the Chief Minister of the state in 2010, when over 120 youths, mostly teenagers, were killed by security forces in a span of two months.
Addressing party workers and office bearers from Sonawar constituency in Srinagar on Saturday, Omar said that PDP leaders had been found involved in robbing everything from rice to land to apples to forests and now to fertilizers.
Omar said PDP General Secretary Mohammad Dilawar Mir's conviction by a CBI court in a case of graft on Friday showcases the party's true character and goal in politics.
"There is nothing that PDP leaders have left untouched when it comes to their insatiable hunger for money. With their General Secretary's conviction by CBI, it seems that air is now the only commodity that PDP has not robbed and misappropriated, he said.
Omar said that PDP had evolved as an amalgam of swindlers of all colours and shapes.
Taking a jibe at PDP, Omar said, "Knowing the party's penchant for corruption and embezzlement, I wouldn't be surprised if Mufti Sayeed and his 'consultants on corruption' soon find a way to embezzle atmospheric air as well."
"Their leaders have not only stolen rice meant for the poor and needy but also stolen the rice-bags meant to distribute that rice," Omar alleged.
"Such is the outstanding calibre of PDP's choicest new faces in politics. They (PDP leaders) have also officially been honored with a gold medal of corruption in stealing fertilizers and that is a new addition to the list of rice, windfall apples, forests and custodian land," Omar said.
The Chief Minister said that unlike PDP, NC holds its leaders and minister to the highest standards of honesty and accountability. "We took concrete measures to ensure accountability and transparency in the system and took Jammu and Kashmir out of the morass of corruption that PDP's ministers had plunged the State into," he said.
"Today we stand here after the successful conclusion of a historic six year term of good governance, systemic reforms and unprecedented development without any fingers having been raised at our honesty and sincerity," the Chief Minister said.
"We developed 1300 Megawatts of Power in the State in projects worth thousands of crores without any shades or suspicions of wrongdoing or corruption. We laid the edifice of 9000 more megawatts of power without so much so a shadow of corruption.
And as compared to this - PDP has not even left urea and rice when it comes to their record-breaking performance in embezzlement," the NC Working President said.
Accusing Sayeed of doing exactly opposite of what he preaches, Omar said that a classic example of this was Sayeed's much parroted 'Healing Touch' policy which turned out to be a 'Killing Touch' policy when he singled out and killed all those militant commanders who had declared a unilateral ceasefire and come to the talks table in Dr Farooq Abdullah's government.
Praising his party, Omar said that NC was a party that believes in incentivizing honesty, morality and sincerity in politics and PDP in stark contrast was a party that incentivizes immorality, corruption and manipulation in politics.
Meanwhile, reacting to PDP's remarks that he had chosen safe seats to contest Assembly election, Omar said if that was the case, he would have chosen those seats where he had sitting MLAs who had won by the highest margins.
"Beerwah has a sitting MLA from PDP and we conceded a lead from Sonawar in the Parliamentary elections. Based on these facts, my contest from Beerwah and Sonawar is a clear and direct challenge to PDP and its corrupt leadership and I am not one to look for safe seats," he added.
(Abid Soffi is Managing Editor, Kashmir Pioneer. He lives in Srinagar)
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