Srinagar, Sep 21 : Speaker assembly, Kavinder Gupta here on Wednesday announced that the autumn session always held in Srinagar before Darbar move has been deferred and would be held for a short spell as usual in December in winter capital Jammu this year. However, former speaker and senior National Conference leader, Muhammad Akbar Lone hit back at the government saying that government has deferred the autumn session just to evade debate in assembly on Kashmir unrest which has so far claimed more than 80 lives.
Talking to KNS over phone from Delhi, speaker assembly, Kavinder Gupta said, “The autumn session usually held in Srinagar would be held in Jammu in December this year. This has been necessitated by the delay caused in the conduct of budget session which could not be held in Jammu but was later held in Srinagar this year. We have to defer the budget session due to the situation which developed by the demise of former chief Minister, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in January this year.” Saying that there should be a gap of 6 months between two consecutive assembly sessions, speaker assembly, Kavinder Gupta said that this is the reason for deferring the autumn session of the assembly which will be now held in December in Jammu,
Hitting out at the government for deferring the autumn session, former speaker and senior NC leader, Muhammad Akbar Lone said, “Government has deferred the autumn session just to evade debate in the assembly on public unrest in Kashmir which has resulted in the killing of more than 80 civilians and over thousand have been blinded and maimed. The debate on the civilian killings in the assembly would satisfy the legislators eager to raise concerns of the people on the disproportionate use of force, necessities for a thorough probe into the civilian killings and demands of the opposition for banning pellets.”
Saying that the opposition had already demanded convening of a special session for debate on Kashmir unrest, Lone said, “It is very unfortunate that government for its own conveniences has deferred the autumn session which can be held any time within six months as there is no time bar for convening a session within six months.” (KNS)