Panther's Party slams J&K govt

The Panthers Party, an ally in the PDP-led ruling coalition in Jammu and Kashmir, on Saturday attacked the state government alleging it was "worse" than the previous one and demanded removal of Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram over a recent decision on rehabilitation of surrendered militants.

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Party president Bhim Singh also said his party would have no tie-up with other coalition partners in the Lok Sabha polls if one of the six seats in the state was not left for it. "The present government is following wrong policies and ignoring the youth and their genuine demands. It is worse than that headed by Farooq Abdullah," Singh told reporters.

Referring to the recent decision of the state Cabinet on rehabilitation of surrendered militants, he said it was "defective" as it would benefit only those youth who had taken up guns and not the "95 per cent" who did not.

"The order should be revoked immediately or Mangat Ram Sharma, who chaired the Cabinet meeting in absence of the Chief Minister, should be removed," he said, alleging Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had "used" Sharma to take the decision.

Singh said he had written to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi complaining against the move and demanding convening of the coalition's Coordination Committee meeting immediately to "sort out problems" in the alliance.

Asked whether he would pull out of the government over the issue, he replied in the negative but said the government could take action if it wanted. He claimed the US was working on a plan to divide J&K and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf were a party to this "plan".