PDP demands judicial probe into killing of Gujjar youth

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today demanded a judicial probe into the alleged killing of a member of a Gujjar community during an anti encroachment drive in the Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir yesterday.
"The killing of a civilian is unfortunate and the PDP demands that a judicial probe be immediately ordered into the killing", senior PDP leader and former Education minister Naeem Akhtar told reporters here today.
A member of the Gujjar community was killed during the clashes between an anti encroachment team of the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) and the encroachers in the Sarore area of Samba district yesterday.

"Encroachments were also removed in our time but nobody lost his life at that time.
A fair probe should be held into the killing of the civilian so that a message of justice should go to the people of the state and at a time when there is no political government", he said.
Akhtar said the Governor is in a position to do it and send a message that there is an even handed policy and there is no such thing that a particular community was being targeted.

"If such a message (that members of one community were being targeted) goes then it would not be in the good interest of the state", he said.

Akhtar said that while his party favours the removal of encroachments from the government land but that should not be at the cost of human life.
"We have told it to the government that encroachment must be removed but for that you should not adopt ways by which it would serve more losses than the benefits.
"We are not polarising it as you are inferring it to be, there is no communal politics involved in it", he said.
The PDP leader said that a human life has been lost and "we say that if encroachments have to be lifted do it but not selectively", Akhtar said.

While demanding compensation and a government job for the next of the kin of the man killed, the PDP leader said that government should also take measures to rehabilitate the peoples whose houses were demolished during the anti encroachment drive.
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On the issue of reported harassment of the Jammu and Kashmir students who have been studying in other parts of the country he said that no student from the state should be harassed.
"We welcome that the Governor has taken the initiative (to tell other states not to harass Kashmiri students), we have also taken up the issue at our party level with the Delhi government and I am sure this would be sorted out soon", he said.

"There should be no harassment of the students wherever they are.
"We urge the Governor and the Central government that the students from Jammu and Kashmir should not be harassed only because they belong to a particular state", he added.
When asked to comment on the flaws in the National Food Security Act (NFSA) that was implemented in the state by the previous BJP-PDP government he said, the Act was implemented in the state after lots of deliberation.
"I am not aware about the current situation as how it is being implemented.
As a policy we had implemented it, it was a well thought policy. Nobody is at a loss, earlier 99 lakh people used to get ration now it is more than 1. 19 crore people who are getting it, so you have got more people into it," he said.

When asked why National Conference (NC) was attacking PDP on the issue of NFSA, he said that it is the job of the NC.
"They are also playing politics," he said.
When asked about the tweets of former chief minister Omar Abdullah who has been targeting the PDP for not forming the government in the state, he said that the former chief minister has become a source of entertainment.
"It is good that he has become a source of entertainment.
"He is tweeting to the people and telling them who have come in and who have gone out.
"It is good if a politician is doing some work I feel it is more creative for him and positive than what he had been doing as Chief Minister. I feel it is good for him", he said.

On the questions being raised by the National Conference on the delay in the formation of the government, he said "we are not doing politics on whatever they (NC) are saying.
"We don't ask them before doing anything. We never ask them why you did this or that.
"We are not questioning his politics. This is their politics and our is ours", he said.