Srinagar, June 11: Highlighting that people from all walks of life in Kashmir Valley had strongly condemned the Pahalgam attack, CPI (M) General Secretary Mariam Alexander Baby on Wednesday said that “restoring Constitutional rights in Jammu and Kashmir will help people to fight terrorism”.
Addressing a large gathering of party workers at Tagore Hall here during a convention organised by CPI (M) J&K, MA Baby said “abrogation of Article 370 has distorted the historical importance of J&K.”
“The way special status in J&K was diluted came as a shot in the arm for terrorists. With attacks such as the Pahalgam incident, they want to divide the society. Need of the hour is to empower people in J&K by returning their special status so that they can fight terrorism,” said MA Baby.
He said it was ironic that Union Home Minister Amit Shah has stated that the situation in Kashmir was normal after abrogation of Article 370. “We were in Kashmir for a two-day Parliamentary delegation visit. What we saw with our own eyes was miseries of the residents of border areas affected by cross-border shelling”. “It is not fair on the part of the Home Minister to describe the situation as normal,” said the CPI (M) veteran leader.
He said the party delegation on a visit to Kashmir comprised of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha members, who visited the shelling affected villages in Uri and besides met family of the slain civilian Syed Adil from Ashmuqam, who was killed in the Pahalgam incident while trying to save tourists. MA Baby underlined the need for a discussion in the Parliament over the Pahalgam attack and the subsequent incidents that followed.
“It is the duty of the Parliament to discuss people-centric issues but the current dispensation at the Centre is not allowing such a discussion to happen. PM Modi should address the Parliament and open up the House for a discussion on the recent happenings in the country such as the Pahalgam attack and aftermath,” said MA Baby.
The CPI (M) leader said it was “deplorable” that J&K was “downgraded to a UT with its Chief Minister not even being a part of the important security review meetings.” “You have an elected government in J&K but unfortunately the law and order is not under the purview of CM Omar Abdullah. These fissures in the establishment bolsters terrorists who then strike as per their will and wish,” he said.
Among other senior CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami and former General Secretary of the CPI (M) Ghulam Nabi Malik highlighted that the party’s central leadership had always extended support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The senior leaders said this time around the motive of holding a convention in Srinagar was to safeguard rights of people in J&K. “It is heartening to see the veterans of our party visit Kashmir and share our grief,” said Malik.
Comrade Amra Ram, Member of Parliament (MP) from Rajasthan’s Sikar and a senior CPI (M) leader said the Rs 1.30 lakh compensation to the shelling affected people in border areas was a paltry amount. The Sikar MP, who was recently included in the CPI (M) Politburo said the BJP-led government in the Centre had “failed to fulfill its promise of providing jobs to lakhs of people.”
“Instead, the central government has empowered Adani and Ambani,” he lamented. He said in the past growth and development of states has been witnessed, adding that it was “shocking that a state such as J&K was downgraded into a UT.”
