Opposition walks out of J&K Assembly

The opposition on Thursday walked out of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly over the sacking of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Director A.G. Ahangar.

After the House met, members of the entire opposition including the National Conference and the Congress stood up and demanded to know why the government had removed Ahangar.

Following a sting operation by Republic TV that showed three prominent doctors of the institute doing private practice in defiance of their service rules, the state government had suspended the three doctors and removed Ahangar.

Senior National Conference leader Ali Muhammad Sagar asked the government to explain why Ahangar was removed from the directorship of the institute when he was not personally engaged in doing any private practice.

Deputy Speaker Nazir Gurezi, who was in the Chair, directed the government to restore Ahangar in his previous position if nothing wrong was found against him.

The opposition walked out in protest after no reply came forth from the treasury benches.

But minutes before Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu started presenting the Budget, the opposition decided to join the proceedings.

--IANS

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