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SRINAGAR : JKLF Chairman, Yasin Malik, Wednesday made a scathing attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed for imposing curbs on Hurriyat leaders in the state.
Calling for 'jail bharo' agitation against the denial of "political" space to separatists groups in the Valley, Malik accused the state government of "playing tricks for survival."
"Mufti Mohammad Sayeed thinks that he can survive his chief ministerial term by these tactics but we will not sit silent. It is our duty to protest against the curbs," Malik said in a press conference here.
The CM has come under severe criticism from civil society as well as political leaders for imposing severe restrictions on Hurriyat leaders, most of whom have been put under house-arrest for excessively long periods.
Before the State Assembly elections last year, Sayeed had floated "Battle of Ideologies" which, he said, was aimed to "give space" to the Hurriyat leaders for propagating their ideology.
Reminding the chief minister of his promises, Malik said the government must allow his amalgam to visit the people across the state.
"The government is not giving us any space. We want to reach out to the people living in far flung villages but we are being detained. There is no political space," Malik said.
Accusing the government of playing tricks against separatists, he said the Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed wants to pass the six years by keeping the separatists under house arrest.
Malik said the 'jail bharo' agitation will begin for 10 days from Friday, "If even after 10 days the government continues to use the same tactics, then we will think of something else and intensify the protests," he said.
Criticising the local media for allegedly becoming the "PR department" of the state government, Malik said journalists should play a pro-active role in exposing the wrongs.
"There is no government on ground in the state. The politicians are visible only in the media. You (journalists) are like a laundry or a dry cleaning shop and you must wash their (government's) dirty linen in public," he said.
"Every other day there is a statement of the chief minister that separatists will be given space for their activities, but why doesn't anyone ask him anything when we are detained, when our youths are arrested and our leaders are put under house arrest," he said.
