SRINAGAR: Opposition National Conference (NC) today lashed out at Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for her “insensitive” and “obtuse” remarks over the last few days, alleging her “shocking insensitivity had emboldened the brutal response” to the current unrest in the Valley.
The National Conference questioned the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister’s sense of priorities and perspective in trying to portray normalcy in the state through the “Information Department” rather than trying to achieve “actual normalcy through empathy and humility.”
“From meetings with female staff in the civil secretariat, to photo-opportunities in civil society meetings with her own workers, Mehbooba has lost the plot at perhaps the most crucial juncture in the state’s tumultuous journey from turmoil to relative peace and engagement,” National Conference spokesperson Junaid Mattu said in Srinagar.
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Mr Mattu said the chief minister has issued a dozen contradictory statements in the last two weeks and continues to hide behind press releases and photo-ops of the Information Department.
“This isn’t an alternative for leadership. Her investment in self-marketing and melodrama cannot compensate for her incomprehensible and extraordinary lack of mettle, sensitivity and integrity,” he said.
“Mehbooba’s insensitive and inarticulate remarks have added to the anger on our streets. She has left no stone unturned to vilify and provoke the agitating youth and this has compounded the problem.
Just days after the PDP openly questioned the character, motives and pain of the agitating youth, three protesters have been killed in the Valley,” he alleged.
In the case of Chattabal youth’s killing, it is evident from the autopsy that it was a targeted killing from point-blank range. This is a direct result of Ms Mehbooba’s statements, he alleged.
He described the killing of Reyaz Ahmed, an ATM guard in Chattabal, as a “shocking proof of brutality and barbarism”.
PTI