Stressed every Govt. in J&K used security for political ends; Proposed civilian award for the old guard’s saviour
Srinagar, March 28:
J&K Peoples Conference President and MLA Handwara Sajad Lone delivered one of the most emotionally charged addresses of the current Assembly session on Saturday, condemning the attack on National Conference patriarch Farooq Abdullah while drawing a direct and painful parallel to his own father’s assassination while demanding accountability on the political use of security.
Opening with relief at Farooq Abdullah’s survival, Lone called him “one of the most colourful and dynamic human beings we have seen in politics in Kashmir,” before raising what he described as a glaring injustice. “The person who saved him, his name hasn’t come up anywhere to date,” he told the House. “This is a great injustice that even I don’t know his name till date.” Lone formally demanded a civilian award for the unidentified individual, urging the government to recognise the act before it fades from public memory.
The speech then turned deeply personal. Lone reminded the House that approximately 20 legislators and members have been martyred over the decades, including his own father and the father of fellow member Sakina Itoo. “Whenever there is an attempt or an assassination, our pain becomes fresh,” he said. “That entire film plays back again. Death is inevitable, everyone has to die, but this death by violence, it never leaves you.”
In a moment of rare candour, Lone spoke of what he called the structural failure of security decisions made on political grounds. Recounting the circumstances around his father’s killing, he pointed directly at a question the House has long avoided.
“He didn’t contest elections. He was a separatist then. If there are ideological differences, shall we allow a person to be killed by not giving him security? That is a big question that we will have to ask.”
He went further, disclosing that in the immediate aftermath of his father’s martyrdom, he was denied security to travel to the very site of the killing for burial rites. “Sir, that government did not give me security to go there,” he said, recalling that the then Divisional Commissioner Parvez Dewan personally warned him against making the journey.
“I said he was my father, he raised me all my life, should I not go there? He said they will kill you.” The appeal, he added, was that of a son, and one he believed thousands across Jammu and Kashmir shared.
Lone was unsparing in his assessment of a pattern that has persisted across administrations. “Whichever government it may be, it has used security for political ends. And perhaps today’s government is doing it too. But we have to learn from it.”
He called for an unconditional pledge that security would never again be made a tool of political pressure, adding that any government denying the practice was being dishonest.
Closing on a note of gratitude, Lone congratulated Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his family on Farooq Abdullah’s return. “Perhaps I, Sakina ji, and the many people here, we were not that lucky, our respected fathers did not come back,” he said. “But I am so happy that Allah Ta’ala has kept this asset. Farooq Sahab is now one of the few remaining from the old guard, who is a guiding father for all of us.”