Centre, L-G clueless on Kathua security crisis: Congress J-K chief

The Congress' Jammu and Kashmir chief Tariq Hameed Karra on Sunday accused the Centre and the lieutenant governor-led administration of being clueless over the "deteriorating security situation" in Kathua district.

Addressing party workers in Samba district as part of the Congress' ongoing campaign for statehood restoration, Karra said the "shocking incidents" in Kathua's Billawar-Bani belt, in the backdrop of terror incidents in the recent past, exposed the false claims of normality.

"Such is the state of affairs that the (central) government is clueless about the recent deaths of five persons -- three on Saturday and two on February 16 -- under mysterious circumstances while the administration is behaving in a biased manner instead of seeking cooperation to deal with the situation," he said.

Questioning the lieutenant governor-led administration's "inept handling" of the situation, Karra said senior Congress leaders Choudhary Lal Singh and Manohar Lal Sharma, who were heading separate teams, were not allowed to visit Billawar to meet the victims' families.

On the contrary, BJP MLAs and leaders were allowed to go, he alleged.

The bodies of 15-year-old Varun Singh, his paternal uncle Yogesh Singh (32) and maternal uncle Darshan Singh (40) were found from the Ishu nullah in the remote Malhar area in the higher reaches of Kathua on Saturday. They had gone missing on March 5 while attending a wedding ceremony.

On February 16, the bodies of Shamsher (37) and Roshan (45) were found at Kohag village in Billawar, with their post-mortem revealing that they were strangulated.

Karra also slammed the alleged attempt to assault Bani MLA Rameshwar Singh and said, "It is unfortunate that a public representative was treated like this while performing his duty towards the people."  Earlier, a two minutes' silence was observed to mourn the three people whose bodies were recovered on Saturday.

Karra asked the BJP to explain its position over the delay in statehood restoration despite repeated promises by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

"Most unfortunate is the complete silence of BJP MLAs over the restoration of statehood, which is a basic right and a question of identity and status of all people of Jammu and Kashmir," he said.