Mehbooba reaches out to victims’ kin in Kupwara

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 23

Two days after reaching out to families in Anantnag in south Kashmir, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today visited Kupwara in north Kashmir and offered condolences to the families whose near and dear ones were killed in violence in the past two weeks.

An official spokesman said the Chief Minister was accompanied by Minister for Social Welfare Sajad Gani Lone. Minister for Rural Development Abdul Haq Khan, Member of Parliament Fayaz Ahmad Mir and Kupwara MLA Bashir Ahmad Dar, camping in the district for the past several days, were also present.

“I am pained to see that all these victim families belong to the poorest of the poor sections of society,” said the Chief Minister.

She assured all possible support to affected families. She sought public cooperation in restoration of normalcy and peace to prevent further loss of lives.

“I appeal to the youth, their parents and their families to help the government in restoring peace so that the misery of the people can go away,” she said.

“The elements who are glorifying the killings and playing politics over the graves of these poor youth never bother to look back at the plight of the victim families once things settle down,” she said.

Mehbooba said it had always been seen that many internal and external forces ganged up to destabilise Kashmir once there was some semblance of normalcy in the Valley.

“Whenever economic activity starts picking up with encouraging increase in tourist arrivals, as happened this year, several quarters with vested interests in the Kashmir turmoil seem to gang up to orchestrate another spate of deadly violence and push the people towards further economic deprivation,” she said.

“There are reports that another round of educational migration has started, with many affluent families preferring educational institutions outside Kashmir for their wards,” she said. She added that the people had to ponder over what was going on and who was getting hurt the most because of such situations.