Monitor News Bureau
Srinagar, Oct 28: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday questioned the state Governor Satya Pal Malik over his recent allegations, stating that the governor’s frequent remarks end up defaming Kashmiris and vital institutions of the state and for him every Kashmiri is a thief.
PDP leader and former minister Naeem Akhtar, in a statement, said that it is regrettable that the Governor should go to every channel and every newspaper about whatever he hears in the discharge of his duty and apparently without verifying facts, he is making general comments.
“It is very unfortunate that he is grudging the people of Kashmir even having a house. Going by his statements, it comes out that anybody who is owning a big or a small house in Kashmir has to be dishonest. The system would demand that rather than making sweeping statements about entire populace of Kashmir, if there is a list of such suspects, action is initiated against them, inquiry is held and those people are made to face law,” Akhtar said.
Reacting over the graft related allegations Malik made in his recent statements, Akhtar said that Governor can ask his accountability organisations to take action against those involved rather than going to the press on this issue. “It would be advisable for the Governor to first ask his accountability apparatus to take action and establish guilt before going to the media,” said the senior PDP leader.
Over the Reliance Insurance ‘scam’ and its subsequent scrapping, Akhtar said that the Governor had himself admit that he was misled in approving the project involving Rs 30 thousand crore of state employees.
“If that is so then the people of the state are clearly living in unsafe times and it becomes obvious that his predecessors in governance have been more resistant to such mischiefs by officers,” he said.
Akhtar added that the “fact” remains that the insurance plan has been approved by this administration itself and its scarping only established that a wrong has been done.
“Mere scrapping of the decision doesn’t wash off the initial action which is now termed as full of frauds by the governor himself. The fraud has been detected only after the employees were made to pay first installment forcibly and some payment has been advanced to the company,” Akhtar said.
He added that it is suggested that Governor Malik, who appears to be well meaning person, verifies facts before going to the media and because anything that comes from him is taken very seriously. “He is not to spread things that have been part of gossip or insidious whispers but people expect action from him. He should not be prejudging things-that is something to be left to the court of law,” said Akhtar.
The PDP leader further stated that by now, the governor should have realised that he is holding the most important and sensitive job in the country and he should not be contributing to instability in the state and erosion of systems whatever its left of them. “There is a campaign at the national level to defame Kashmiris because of the suspicion of their loyalties to the country. But unfortunately the present Governor has not been addressing that crisis, instead his comments have most often resulted in further defaming the people of Kashmir,” Akhtar added.
Commenting over Governor’s remarks on state’s Public Service Commission, Akhtar said that it is unfortunate that such a vital institution of the state has been brought into disrepute. “Governor should not be echoing a particular grouse and presenting it as a truth. There is no scope of discrimination in the system and for verification, Governor may get list of KAS and KPS officers and see for himself which is the community or the region that has been discriminated against but we don’t subscribe to that theory that it is discrimination. We feel that it is purely on the basis of merit that people have got into the civil services,” he said in the statement.
