Srinagar: Cracking the whip, National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Thursday asked his younger brother Mustafa Kamal to quit party posts for his controversial remarks on AFSPA.
"I have asked him to submit his resignation from the post
of Chief spokesperson of the party as well as General
Secretary," Abdullah said.
Kamal surprised everyone by stating that disgruntled
elements within the Army were behind grenade attacks in the
city recently and that these were aimed at scuttling moves by
the Omar Abdullah government for withdrawal of the Armed
Forces Special Powers Act from some parts of Jammu and
Kashmir.
His statements were seen as an attempt to bring strains
in the relations between Congress and NC and the party had not
only regretted his statements but also distanced itself from
them.
"Kamal had been advised to exercise restraint and follow
the party policy line on all issues, particularly those
pertaining to the policies of the coalition government,
relationship with the Congress party, AFSPA and the role of
the army," Abdullah said.
He said NC was committed to coalition dharma and will not
allow anyone to break a perfect alliance which was bringing
peace to the state.
In a statement, Abdullah said he had to take this
difficult decision because Kamal has been making certain
statements which are not in tandem with the policies of the
NC and are against the coalition dharma.
"The NC-Congress coalition government has been
functioning smoothly and any indiscipline in this regard
within our party will not be tolerated," he said.
Kamal had alleged that "if the Hurriyat Conference (G)
chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani was involved in stone-pelting
incidents, New Delhi was subtly involved in hurling grenades
so that AFSPA isn?t revoked from the state."
An MLA from Hazratbal Constituency, Kamal had to suffer
defeat after losing his traditional Tangmarg seat to Ghulam
Hassan Mir of the Democratic Party Nationalist.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, November 10, 2011, 21:56