Minorities being hounded across India

Srinagar: National Conference on Saturday said minorities, especially Muslims, were being hounded across the country as intolerance, communalism and bigotry was not only being openly patronized but also unabashedly advocated by various Members of Parliament and even Ministers belonging to a certain political party. Addressing the commemorative function at Party HQ, ‘Nawa-e-Subha’ in Srinagar organized on the 3rd Death Anniversary of Veteran Leader and Party’s Former General Secretary Advocate Sheikh Nazir Ahmed, Senior NC Leaders said the rising tide of communalism and bigotry in the country was a cause of great concern for Jammu and Kashmir and its people.
NC General Secretary Haji Ali Muhammad Sagar, while paying glowing tributes Late Sheikh Nazir Ahmed, said he stood for his principles all his life and chose his values and the service of the people over power and personal empowerment. “Nazir Sahib’s life is a story of sacrifice and dedication to serving the State and its people. He stood for the defence of our honour and our political rights till his last breath. These very values are under threat today both within the State and on account of powers that be in the country. The opportunistic, PDP-BJP Alliance has wreaked havoc with the sense of dignity of our State and PDP’s complete sellout to the BJP has amounted to a weakening of our political status and identity. Minorities, especially Muslims are being targeted and hounded across the length and breadth of the country and the atmosphere of intolerance and communalism is being fanned and patronized by those who have been entrusted with the trust to safeguard it”, the NC General Secretary said in his address.
Earlier in the morning, Senior Party Leaders and Legislators led by NC General Secretary Haji Ali Muhammad Sagar and NC Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani offered Fateha Khwani at the grace of the Veteran NC Leader at his ancestral graveyard at Malik Sahib, Soura.
Speaking on the occasion, NC Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani asked the State Government and especially the Chief Minister to come clean on the assurances of swift and visible action in the Shopian killings case and said till now there was no sign of the probe reaching any conclusion. “The Chief Minister and her confidants assured us – even inside the Assembly – that the culprits would be punished and justice would be done. But all this time has passed and the Chief Minister has not only back-tracked on her promise made in the Assembly but has also remained silent to brazen questioning of her authority as the Chief Minister and the Home Minister of the State. She owes it to the families of the victims to answer their questions and if she yet again has sold out to the BJP to remain in the CM’s chair – she should openly say so publicly and stop fooling the people of the State with her theatrics”, the NC Provincial President added.
The NC Leaders also lashed out at the Chief Minister and the State Government over the non-serious and chaotic handling of the heart-wrenching rape and murder case of an 8 year old child in Kathua and said the CM it seemed had succumbed to pressure to inhibit the pace of the investigation. “While the BJP wants the case to be handed over to the CBI, the Chief Minister and her Ministers have offered precious little beyond lip service and rhetoric. The Minister in the PMO, Jitinder Singh has clearly echoed the demands of the Hindu Ekta Manch that marched in favour of the culprits of this heinous crime and the Chief Minister has gone into mute mode. Her own allies are casting aspersions on the J&K Police which comes under her command and she yet again has chosen subservience and silence over leadership. We stand in complete solidarity with the family of the victim and also express serious concern over the systemic harassment and targeting of the Gujjar and Bakerwal community. The Chief Minister has failed the victim’s family and also the people of the State due to her inaction and lack of courage to deliver justice”, the Senior NC Leaders added.