Cutting across party lines, members from the treasury and opposition benches on Saturday unanimously condemned recent assassination bid on the life of National Conference (NC) president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah and demanded a judicial probe by a sitting judge of high court (HC).
The NC veteran was attacked by 63-year-old Kamal Singh Jamwal during a wedding reception at Greater Kailash locality here on March 11. Abdullah had a miraculous escape when Jamwal opened fire from point-blank while the politician was leaving the function.
Members from NC, Congress, PDP, BJP, CPI (M), People’s Conference besides independents condemned the assassination bid in unequivocal terms. While some of the members from NC demanded that the attacker be declared a “terrorist”, others demanded that he must be handed an exemplary punishment.
In police custody, Jamwal had said that he had a grudge with Abdullah from for the past 20 years. A special investigation team (SIT), headed by a deputy inspector general of police, was constituted to probe the attack.
NC MLA Salman Sagar said, “If a leader like Farooq Abdullah can be attacked then there is no hope for a common man.” He stressed upon a judicial probe by a sitting or retired HC judge and called for a voice vote condemnation.
{{/usCountry}}NC MLA Salman Sagar said, “If a leader like Farooq Abdullah can be attacked then there is no hope for a common man.” He stressed upon a judicial probe by a sitting or retired HC judge and called for a voice vote condemnation.
{{/usCountry}}BJP’s Sham Lal Sharma raised question as to how the attacker with a weapon managed to come dangerously close to NC veteran. “It is a grave security breach, which is unacceptable,” he said.
Condemning the attack, BJP’s Surjit Singh Slathia said, “Such an act is utter disgrace and is not acceptable.”
Peoples Conference chief and Handwara MLA Sajad Lone, PDP MLA Waheed Para, CPI (M) MLA MY Tarigami, NC MLA Tanvir Sadiq, NC leader Saifullah Mir, NC MLA Nazir Gurezi and other members also expressed their views and endorsed the demand of a judicial probe.
Sajad Lone and Para, however, stated that security to politicians should not be compromised or downgraded selectively.
“After the revocation of Article 370, there is an urgent need for this House to adopt a unified stand against any threat to individuals,” Para said. “Safety and security of politicians including former CM and party president Mehbooba Mufti must be ensured and proper security besides accommodation as per the entitlement must be given to the PDP president,” he added.
After reorganisation of J&K post revocation of Article 370 in August 2019, home department rests with LG.
CPI (M) legislator M Y Tarigami said, “The incident raised serious questions on security. We demand a transparent probe in a time bound manner and the findings be shared in the House.”
Winding up the discussion, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather appreciated home minister Amit Shah and LG Manoj Sinha. “They assured an impartial probe and we are confident that it would be taken to its logical conclusion and the accused handed over exemplary punishment,” said Rather. “Farooq Abdullah is not an ordinary individual…he is a nationally and internationally recognised personality who has served the country during difficult times,” Rather said.
He assured that the investigations would be pursued in right earnest and that necessary steps should be taken to prevent recurrence.