CPI(M) demands criminal proceedings against supporters of Kathua rape accused 

JAMMU: Senior CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami today termed as "half-hearted" the submission of resignation by two BJP ministers in Jammu and Kashmir and demanded criminal proceedings against all those who obstructed the process of justice in the Kathua rape-and-murder case.

Forest Minister Lal Singh and Industries Minister Chander Prakash Ganga, who courted controversy by attending a rally supporting those accused of raping and killing a young girl in Kathua last month, tendered their resignation to the party state president Sat Sharma yesterday.

"Two cabinet ministers of the BJP and others openly tried to cover up the heinous gang-rape and brutal murder case of the nomad girl and shield the culprits," Tarigami said in a statement here.

"It was only after outrage across the country on heinous crime that the two ministers have half-heartedly submitted their resignation.

What is required now is to initiate criminal proceedings against all those who obstructed the process of justice to the victim," he said.

Launching a scathing attack on the PDP, Tarigami asked Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and the party leadership to explain its position after tourism minister Tasdauq Mufti's comment that the PDP and BJP had "ended up being partners in a crime (for which) an entire generation might have to pay with their blood.

" Tarigami asked what was stopping the PDP from apologising to the people for entering into an "incompatible alliance with RSS-led BJP".

"Despite concerns and warnings by democratic forces in and outside the state about this opportunist alliance, the PDP did not give any damn to it and today they have put a sensitive state like J&K in deep crisis," he said.

Tarigami claimed that the PDP has failed to hold its coalition partner to its commitments regarding various important issues.

"There is a growing disquiet in Kashmir about the non-implementation of the so-called Agenda of Alliance, and PDP's silence about it," he said.

"While the PDP seems to have gone quiet over its political agenda or entered into a sort of ideological and political trade-off with its alliance partner, BJP has more or less freely plied its agenda and with an increasing belligerence," he said.

The CPI(M) leader said Kashmir had been converted into "a cage where excessive use of force is more clear and visible than the governance".

"The whole state knows that the 'Agenda of Alliance' is nothing but a gimmick of fake and un-kept promises and stands contrary to the wishes of the people," said Tarigami.