Mehbooba Mufti accuses Omar Govt. of misleading people

Jammu, Feb 27 (ANI): Hitting out at the Omar Abdullah Government for misleading the people of the state, People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Monday charged it of adopting an autocratic approach against all those raising their voices against it.

"There is corruption in the various departments, within the various ministries and there was no discussion (on that), no tolerance. Unfortunately, it seems that the government is working like a mafia, where you are trying to fix people whether they are journalists, whether they are bureaucrats or the opposition, so that is why we also protest and came out to show solidarity with the press," said Mufti.

"They have always been misleading people, this is the party which created a wedge between the people of Kashmir and rest of the country and this is the party who have been enjoying their friendship with the people in Delhi, but at the same time, this is the very party created a vicious campaign and poisoned the hearts and minds of the people of Kashmir against the whole country," she added.

The issue of death row convict Afzal Guru disrupted proceedings in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly earlier today, as the opposition demanded a debate in the wake of a recent statement of Union Minister and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah.

The assembly was engulfed in fresh row after legislators from the ruling party, the National Conference, alleged that some recent reports on their involvement in corruption cases were made up.

The legislators dubbed it as media trail and demanded the speaker's notice on the issue.

Meanwhile, mediapersons covering the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly session boycotted the proceedings today, following speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone's remarks that 'media is under his control'.

Saroj Razdan, senior print journalist, expressed displeasure over the speaker's statements.

"When the assembly was in progress, earlier in the day, some ministers expressed their objections on the recent articles against corruption in newspapers. The ministers dubbed it as media trial and urged the speaker to take strong action. Three-four ministers stood up who were charged by newspapers of corruption," said Razdan.

"On this issue, the speaker gave a strongly worded statement saying that media is under his control and it cannot project any objectionable contents or mudslinging against anyone in its reports. He, especially, emphasised that the media would be liable to reveal its sources in any such stories. This is something, which is unacceptable," added Razdan. (ANI)