NC focused on transfer of officers instead of important issues: PDP

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Friday lashed out at the ruling National Conference, saying it was focusing on who between them and the Lieutenant Governor is empowered to transfer officials rather than taking a stand on issues that really matter.

“People thought when the new government comes, it would protect their rights. Unfortunately, it has been six months, but it has not talked about the plight of the youth in jails, the termination of our employees, or the issues of daily wagers, unemployment etc. The government has shown cowardice in everything,” Mufti told reporters here.

Mufti accused Chief Minister Omar Abdullah-led government of “surrendering” before New Delhi”. She said when the employees from department headed by the CM were terminated, Abdullah did not say anything. “But, today, for the transfer of patwaris (revenue officials), the MLAs of a party and its allies got together,” she said, in a reference to the meeting of the legislators of NC and its allies in the backdrop of the recent transfers ordered by L-G Manoj Sinha.

“Did the people of Jammu and Kashmir vote this party for these issues? Is the issue of transfer of Patwaris a big issue? Or the issue is that our youth are rotting in jails? Or that there are raids every day? Or that Jamia Masjid is closed despite the improvement in the situation?

“We do not talk about the real problems, but about who will transfer Patwaris? Who will transfer village level workers? I think this is very bad,” she said.

“This is not a good thing for a government that has received such a huge mandate, or to call such a big meeting on such small issues’. I think this is a joke with the mandate that people have given him,” she added.

Meanwhile, PDP leader and Pulwama MLA Waheed Para said a party that once appointed its own Sadr-e-Riyasat (Head of State) and Prime Minister is now fighting over Tehsildar appointments, not rights. “Goalposts aren’t just shifting, they’ve hit rock bottom. Fifty MLAs unite, not for resisting August 5, but for KAS transfers. Focus on symptoms only, not on August 5?” Para wrote on microblogging site X.

The Pulwama MLA accused the National Conference of surrendering and normalising the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. “You started by surrendering and normalising August 5, expecting them to facilitate you because you facilitated them. If only you had taken a stand, appointed your own Advocate General, nominated five MLAs, and never compromised on (Article) 370 resolution (for restoration of statehood), transfers would have been on your platter,” Para said.

“You refused to stand for July 13 (the Martyr’s Day holiday, which was scrapped in 2019), and the Waqf Bill was just empty rhetoric. Now, the same cabinet that justified the same bureaucrats in a month-long assembly session is complaining about them?” the PDP leader added.

J & K