Situation in Kashmir at 'its worst', Congress attacks PDP-BJP government

The Congress on Wednesday said the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is "at its worst" as it blamed the escape of a Pakistani LeT terrorist from a hospital in Srinagar as a "failure" of the BJP-PDP government.

Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the escape of Naveed Jat alias Abu Hunzullah from the S.M.H.S hospital on Tuesday, "doesn't reflect good" on the state or the country.

"I have been reiterating that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is its worst.

"On Tuesday a Pakistani LeT terrorist escaped when he was being taken to the S.M.H.S hospital for a medical check up from Srinagar Central Jail in the morning," he said.

Calling Hunzullah's escape "the first such incident in last 20 years, Azad said: "Such incidents used to happen in 1990s."

"This doesn't reflect good. It's not good for the state, as well as for the country.

"There was mistake on part of the state government because such a terrorist was being taken to hospital without proper security arrangements," he said.

"He could have been taken to an Army hospital. Why was he taken to S.M.H.S (Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital)," Azad said. It is a multi-speciality hospital in the Karan Nagar area of Srinagar.

The former Chief Minister describing the incident as "unfortunate", demanded a full-fledged discussion over the security situation in the state.

Azad urged the government to remain alert while dealing with such situation. "Such incidents should not be repeated in future," he said.

In the audacious attack, militants attired in pherans helped the Pakistani terrorist escape by firing at the police party escorting him to the hospital, leaving two policemen dead.

Hunzullah escaped when the waiting militants fired at the police party outside the hospital. One policeman was killed, while another was injured, and died later at the hospital.

--IANS

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