Author: IANS
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: October 7, 2010
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/288289/JK-assembly-erupts-over-Omars-speech.html
A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator
and a policeman were injured Thursday as chaos erupted in the Jammu and Kashmir
assembly with opposition members disrupting proceedings over Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah's speech a day earlier.
A day after Abdullah said in the assembly
that "the state has acceded through an agreement to India and not merged
with it", BJP and Panthers' Party legislators gathered near Speaker M.A.
Lone's podium, tearing papers and shouting slogans.
As agitated members started moving towards
the speaker's chair, ignoring his repeated requests to restore order, Lone
ordered the watch and ward staff of the assembly to remove the agitating members
from the house.
BJP legislator Durga Dass sustained a head
injury in the melee. He alleged that he had been hit by a 'kada' (metallic
wrist-band) worn by one of the marshals.
After first aid, during which the doctors
stitched the legislator's wound, he was shifted to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute
of Medical Sciences Soura (SKIMSS).
Two other BJP legislators also claimed they
had been injured when the marshals removed them physically from the house.
A head constable of the local police was injured
outside the assembly hall as opposition members walked out of the house in
anger. He too has been shifted to hospital.
During his 90-minute speech on the prevailing
situation in the state, Abdullah Wednesday also asked BJP members why they
had often stated that Kashmir was an integral part of India and why they did
not say the same about Tamil Nadu?
This, he said, "indicated that they doubted
the statement in their heart of hearts".
The BJP, the Panthers' Party and the Jammu
State Morcha, which has one member in the house, have decided to boycott the
rest of the present session that ends Oct 9.
The main opposition People's Democratic Party
(PDP), with 21 members in the 87-member state legislative assembly, is already
boycotting this assembly session.
The BJP has 11 and the Panthers' Party three
legislators.
