J&K Institutions under systematic attack: Sagar

Srinagar: National Conference on Thursday expressed dismay over state government’s “relentless attacks” on the working of state as well autonomous institutions in the state.
In a statement, party General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar said that the governor administration has embarked on a mission to “change” the existing state laws which should have been the exclusive domain of a democratically elected government.
“Legally speaking state Governor has the power to change state laws but he has no popular mandate to make far reaching changes in our institutions. The recent SAC decision approving the amendments in JK municipal Act is a case in point where unlike earlier elections to the post of mayor will be done through a secret ballot,” he said.
“What compelled the governor administration to bring such drastic changes which has no precedence in our system? Even in the Legislative Assembly we have moved to open voting for Rajya Sabha and MLC elections. Same is the case with elections to country’s President and Vice President also which do not have a secret ballot as such. As per norms, the voter shows his or her ballot paper to the election agent concerned,” he said.
Asking governor administration to focus more on security related issues of the state, the general secretary said, “Our state is going through very tough times with everyday killings, maiming, CASOs, night raids, arrests becoming the order of the day. Dealing with the ground situation and ensuring a sense of security among people here must be HEG’s first priority. He should see himself as the care taker first and focus more on facilitating a peaceful environment in the state.”
Sagar said the state administration is trying to undermine democratic process in J&K. “Bringing about drastic changes in our administrative set-up is completely uncalled for. It belittles the value of our institutions and demeans the very basis of our democratic setup. Obliterating the transparency in our institutions is something that will have far reaching consequences,” he said.
He said that it is highly unbecoming of the incumbent governor administration to challenge the veracity of the state’s political set up. “On one hand governor says that he hasn’t come with any political agenda but his actions speak otherwise. It seems that those who are hell bent to destroy the socio-political set up of our state are dictating terms to state administration,” he said.
“The recently concluded ULB elections should serve as an eye opener for those who made tall claims about the polling percentage in Kashmir. It seems that they are willingly ignoring the ground realities in Kashmir which will inevitably have serious repercussions on our state. It’s therefore time for the powers that be to accept the ground realities and start addressing them. If they continue to dismiss the genuine concerns expressed by our party from time to time then the situation is going to get murkier and murkier,” he said.
General Secretary said that although party decided to stay away from these elections, the brazen fiddling with our institutions is uncalled for. “People of the state are observant to everything that is being done to our institutions,” he said.