Former chief minister of the state and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Saturday wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the prevailing unrest in the Valley and accused the government of failing to show any urgency in dealing with the situation.Azad wrote to the Prime Minister to share the profound concern and anxiety among the people of Jammu and Kashmir over the ongoing unrest.Azad rued that the lessons learnt during 2008 and 2018 protests have been “completely forgotten and ignored in the current situation in Kashmir where curfew remained in place on the 29th consecutive day today.“So far more than 55 people have been killed and almost 7000 civilians and security personnel injured. More than 100 civilians lost their vision as a result of pellet guns,” said Azad.
He accused the government of failing to show any urgency in dealing with the situation or taking political parties into confidence, “as was demanded during the discussion in the parliament”.“There seems to be no recognition of the situation at the national level…earlier we used to recognize the political nature of the problem. An all-party delegation from Parliament visited Kashmir in 2010 and met a cross-section of people, subsequently the interlocutors were appointed.“Today, there seems to be no such effort on the part of the central government. What is New Delhi waiting for? When is government of India going to wake up. The use of pellet guns is no solution at all.” (KNS)