JKNPP activists burn Mehbooba Mufti's effigy to protest state govt's decision to review cases of stone-pelters

Jammu: The JKNPP on Friday staged a protest in Jammu against the Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision to review cases against youths facing charges of stone-pelting and the Centre’s lack of plans to set up composite townships for Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley. The protesters from the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) also burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who had directed a panel to review cases against youths facing charges of stone-pelting in the 2015-2017 period. Instead of taking stringent action against anti-national elements and subversives active in Kashmir, the central government has preferred to take forward the suggestion made by its interlocutor to release 4,500 first-time stone-pelters and drop cases against them to win hearts in Kashmir, JKNPP chairman Harsh Dev Singh said. [caption id=“attachment_4226169” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. PTI[/caption] This decision must be immediately revoked as it is detrimental to the nation’s security and secular ethos, the former Jammu and Kashmir education minister said. The JKNPP also demanded that the Centre develop plans for composite townships in Kashmir for the displaced the Kashmiri Pandit (KP) community. This came after the Home Ministry, in response to an RTI query, said that the Union government has no plan to set up composite townships for the displaced community in the valley. The RTI was filed by social worker Rohit Choudhary. Singh said that at a time when the Jammu and Kashmir government has initiated the process of launching an amnesty scheme for stone-pelters, it has come to the fore that the Centre has no plans to set up composite townships in Kashmir for KPs. “Several such promises over the years have failed to rehabilitate KPs since insurgency and unrest during the early 90s which forced them to flee from Kashmir,” Singh said.