Candidates of Congress and People's Democratic Party came to blows and turned abusive at the mini-secretariat in Bandipora in North Kashmir on Wednesday, joined shortly by hundreds of workers from both sides. Congress's Usman Majid and PDP's Nizamuddin Bhat triggered the melee by first lunging at each other with sticks. They are old political foes, and had arrived to file their nomination papers for the first of the seven phases on November 25 when 15 seats go to poll.
Nowgam in Srinagar, the home town of the two youth, was curfew-bound and sources said the response to separatists' call for a hartal across the Valley was partial. Two cops were injured as protesters, mostly youngsters, raised anti-India slogans. When cops tried to disperse them, they pelted stones. The security forces then used teargas shells, which couldn't prevent intermittent clashes through the day.
Asked about the inquiry into the youths' killing, defence spokesman, Col Brijesh Pandey, said, "Fixing a timeline for the inquiry would be contrary to the process of natural justice but it's expected to be completed before assembly elections begin."
Meanwhile, the BJP released the second list of four candidates for the first phase raising the number of its Muslim candidates to 15 out of 49 candidates so far. The names were released by BJP general secretary J P Nadda in New Delhi with tickets going to Sheikh Rashid from the prestigious Ganderbal assembly segment and Abdul Rehman Tekri from Bandipora in the Valley. The party also nominated Abdul Aziz and Slanzin Lakpa from Kargil and Zanskar in Ladakh.
Justifying the public outrage, PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure human rights violations were curbed in Kashmir. "Similar circumstances had led to eruption of turmoil in Kashmir in the early 1990s," the Mufti said, adding that the people of J&K have suffered greatly because of two decades of violence.
BSP named 55 candidates for J&K elections and Panthers Party chairman Bhim Singh alleged BJP and NC were in tacit alliance. "Prime Minister Modi met Omar Abdullah during his recent visit on Diwali. They both agreed (on certain things) and had a secret agreement," Singh alleged.
Former CM Ghulam Nabi Azad took a dig at the BJP saying its claim of "44 plus" in the state is a hoax. "It's only four seats and not 44. Instead of 44, BJP should strive for four. It can't even win four seats from the state," Azad said. He also wondered why Omar was blaming the Congress for "creating hurdles" in running his government. "He should've quit the moment he felt the Congress wasn't supporting him," Azad added.
Omar in an interview to a New Delhi news channel had said the Congress had created difficulties for him as a result of which he couldn't achieve what he wanted to. He said the ally never allowed the coalition to settle.
http://ift.tt/1oI5vxg Democratic Party,J&K unrest,Clashes in Nowgam
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