Srinagar MP's resignation accepted by Lok Sabha Speaker

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has accepted the resignation of Srinagar MP Tariq Hameed Karra, who put in his papers protesting against the "failure" of Parliament to make "any tangible moves" to end violence in Kashmir.

Mahajan announced in the House today that she has accepted the resignation of Karra with effect from October 17.

Karra, a founder member of PDP had sent his resignation letter to Speaker on September 23. He had also quit from his party.

In the wake of unrest in the Kashmir Valley after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani, 61-year-old Karra had announced his resignation on September 16, blaming the PDP-BJP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir for the turmoil, saying "the seeds of deceit, disillusionment and disenchantment were sown in the minds and hearts of people the day the PDP tied an alliance with the BJP ...it was an unnatural alliance."

Karra had said he was forced to take the extreme step to register his "strong protest" against the "unabated killings, grievous injuries and repression and suppression let loose" on the people of Kashmir and the "failure of Parliament", Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government "to find a way out of this painful situation".

A one time close confidant of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Karra, who had defeated National Conference President Farooq Abdullah in 2014 Lok Sabha polls by a margin of 40,000 votes, had also accused the PDP of "working on the RSS-agenda".