Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was
on Tuesday adjourned sine die amidst strong protests by Opposition
PDP demanding a discussion on the death of a National
Conference worker allegedly in police custody last week.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLAs had moved a fresh
adjournment motion notice demanding that the House should
debate the death of Syed Mohammad Yousuf on September 30 as
there were allegations of the Chief Minister`s office being
involved in it.
However, Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone rejected the PDP
demand saying there was nothing new in their notice than the
one rejected by him yesterday.
"A discussion on the matter is hardly justified at this
stage and can prove counter-productive as the state government
has requested the Chief Justice of the J&K High Court to
appoint a sitting High Court judge to probe the matter," Lone
said.
Angry PDP members stormed the Well of the House, raising
slogans protesting against the Speaker`s decision. Initially,
the Opposition members were demanding discussion into Yousuf`s
death but as the Speaker did not allow them even to speak,
they started protesting against the Chair.
Quoting newspaper reports, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti
said a discussion had become "extremely inevitable" claiming
that the High Court had refused to entertain the state
government`s request for conducting a probe by a sitting
judge.
However, the Speaker remained steadfast on his decision
that no issue which is sub-judice can be discussed in the
House.
Senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig contested the
Speaker`s ruling saying if the 2G scam can be debated in
Parliament while being heard by the Supreme Court, why this
matter cannot be taken up by the Assembly.
National Panthers Party (NPP) leader Harsh Dev Singh and
CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami supported the demand for discussion in
the House.
"The matter is not yet under the purview of judicial
inquiry as the same has not been established yet. There should
be no hesitation in discussing the issue," Singh said.
Tarigami said if Chief Minister Omar Abdullah can make
a statement on the issue outside the Assembly and government
officials can brief the press on the case, why cannot the
House be taken into confidence.
As the commotion continued, the Speaker went about the
business which included passage of two bills before adjourning
the House sine die.
Today was the last day of the Autumn Session. The
Assembly is likely to meet in Jammu next year for the Budget
Session.
Talking to reporters, the PDP chief reiterated the demand
for resignation of the Chief Minister, his MoS Home Nasir
Aslam Wani and Union Minister Farooq Abdullah saying every
attempt was being made to hush up the case.
"It is about murder for money. There are contradictions
in the government actions ... On one hand they say they have
ordered judicial inquiry, on the other, it is reported that
the inquiry will be conducted by an additional district
magistrate," she said.
PTI
