SRINAGAR: The opposition members on Wednesday created uproar in both houses of the J&K legislature on the second day of budget session on civilian killings and law and order (L&O) situation in Kashmir and staged walk-out after government turned down their demand for discussion on the situation in the Valley.
As the Question Hour began in Legislative Assembly in Jammu (winter capital of the State) today, the opposition NC and Congress legislators demanded adjournment of the Question Hour and debate over civilian killings, human rights violations and power crisis in the Valley.
Chanting anti-PDP, anti-BJP, and anti-government slogans, the opposition members pressed for discussion on the civilian killings and law and order situation in the Valley.
Senior NC leader, Ali Mohammad Sagar, said the PDP-BJP government needs not to fool people over the law and order situation in the Valley.
“Army and police say they have broken back of militancy but the recent fidayeen attack on CRPF camp in which five CRPF men were killed proves that either forces are giving a wrong assessment or the government is lying. We have brought adjournment motion to know the real picture on the law and order front,” he said.
However, Speaker Kavinder Gupta turned down opposition demand for discussion on civilian killings in Valley.
Sagar termed Speaker’s decision as a step towards “belittling the stature of the opposition in the legislature.”
In reply, Gupta told him that the issues being answered by the government during the Question Hour are all matters of public importance and the opposition can raise its issues during the discussion on Governor’s address.
As the opposition members continued to create noisy scenes to press for their demands, Speaker told them to take their seats and allow proceedings of the House and discussion on civilian killings and other issues would be held after Question Hour.
However, the opposition members didn’t relent and continued the protest.
Senior PDP leader and parliamentary affairs Minister Abdur Rehman Veeri took a dig at opposition members, saying the opposition had no issues and was unnecessarily disrupting the proceedings of the House.
His statement angered the opposition members, who staged walkout from the house.
The bedlam also prevailed in Legislative Council, where NC and Congress members too demanded discussion on civilian killings in the Valley.
As the noisy scenes continued, Legislative Council chairman Inayat Ali adjourned the house for 10 minutes.
However, the opposition members continued anti-government sloganeering and disrupted the Question Hour after the house met again after 10 minutes.
Later, the opposition member staged a walkout from the house.
“The innocent people and security personnel are being killed in Kashmir. We wanted government’s response on this important issue but unfortunately there was no response,” Congress MLC Ghulam Nabi Monga told reporters.
The opposition members had also yesterday disrupted Governor N N Vohra’s address to joint sitting of the legislators on the start of the over month long budget session and staged walkout.