PDP alleges 'direct complicity' of Omar govt in exam scam

Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today alleged "direct complicity" of the Omar Abdullah government in the Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE) exam paper scam in Jammu and Kashmir.
"The scandal (in BOPEE) has not just brought out the worst practices followed by government institutions but it establishes beyond doubt the direct complicity of this government in the scam...It is not a crime by some officer within the system but by an individual who was foisted purposely.
"Therefore, the chief minister as head of the government owes an explanation for this atrocity on the most talented and hardworking youth of the state. He must come clean on his own role in repeated appointment of the former chairman of BOPEE (Mushtaq Ahmad Peer)," PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said.

Mehbooba told reporters here it was amusing that the Chief Minister is now claiming credit for exposing the scam.
"It cannot get funnier than this," she said, adding Omar did the same in the case of release of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
"Geelani was released from house arrest after five years and the Chief Minister claimed credit for his release. But then Geelani was again put under house arrest within days," she said.

Referring to the chief minister's assurance of action in the BOPEE scam, she said it has become the stock response of the government.
Accusing the state government of taking "anti-youth" policies to "new heights", the PDP leader said after this government came to power it was expected that the young chief minister would be able to relate more to the youth of the state, who have been the worst sufferers during the last 20 years of turmoil.

She said it seems as if this government has an agenda of targeting youth in a "systematic and planned manner".
"With the coming of this government, a sense of insecurity came through innocent killings, registration of FIRs against youth, Public Safety Act (PSA) and use of curfew and chili and pellet guns," she said.