Amid walkout, National Conference says BJP war cry spread panic

SRINAGAR: Opposition National Conference ( NC) in J&K staged walkout in the assembly, claiming that the BJP’s assertion of aerial bombing Pakistan has triggered panic in border areas, where people are apprehensive of a reaction from across the border.

The opposition legislators demanded clarification whether the Mehbooba Mufti led PDP BJP government was in favour of ‘bullets or dialogue’. NC legislator Deveinder Rana lashed out at the BJP members stating that the ‘war cry’ won’t hit Nagpur (RSS headquarters) but people living in border areas. NC also criticised the government, which according to reports has ordered the CID of J&K police for surveillance of Friday sermons, profiling of the preachers and recording their ‘political views and affiliations’. Earlier, the state BJP, in wake of Lashkar-e-Toiba’s deadly attack on CRPF, in which eight personnel were killed and 22 others were injured, had demanded immediate stalling of dialogue with Pakistan and bombing its territory.

The Chief Minister, who criticised the preachers for raising political issues during Friday sermons, also termed the militant attack ‘un-Islamic.’ “BJP’s war cry has triggered panic in border areas of Kalakote, Dalmia and Poonch, which have to bear the brunt of cross-border firing,” Rana said in the assembly.

The NC lawmaker asserted that his party won’t allow BJP’s ‘goondaism’ in the state and provocation of forces on the other side of the border. The opposition party also criticised the government for ‘directly interfering into the religious affairs of Kashmiris’ by putting ‘Imams’ under surveillance.