Srinagar, Dec 02 (KNS): National Conference on Friday said the killing of Sajjad Malik, a former Sarpanch from Dooru, Anantnag was a highly suspicious issue that exposed claims of Mehbooba Mufti about the Government’s intentions to restore normalcy in the State. Demanding a judicial probe into the incident, Former Cabinet Minister and National Conference South Zone President Sakina Ittoo and Leader Advocate Farooq Ahmed Ganai said the Government’s version of the incident was full of contradictions and conjectures and justice should be upheld at all costs.
“We demand a transparent, time-bound judicial probe into the incident and seek a direct answer from the Chief Minister. When mainstream political activists and former Sarpanchs can be killed in the custody of the police, the Chief Minister should acknowledge the grave costs of her Government’s callousness and irresponsibility in dealing with the deteriorating situation in Kashmir. The Government’s decision to treat the situation in Kashmir as a law and order problem alone has manifested into an atmosphere of impunity and such incidents are on the rise”, the NC leaders said in a statement issued to KNS.
The NC leaders said the probe should take into account eyewitness accounts and testimonies of locals and relatives of Sajjad Malik and try to ascertain the truth with utmost objectivity.
“The varying claims and the contradictions and flaws in the account of the Police has raised red-flags. Such incidents defy claims of the Government about the normalization of the situation in the Valley, especially in South Kashmir”, the statement added.
“Every perceived miscarriage of justice and every act of an alleged extra-judicial operation sets us back as a State trying to overcome the trust deficit that has taken root due to a sense of impunity that has often been encouraged by political entities that have exploited the pain and suffering in the Valley for self-seeking interests. And hence it is all the more imperative that such incidents are probed transparently for the truth to come out”, the NC leaders added. (KNS)