Jammu and Kash-mir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said his silence on last week’s mysterious death of a ruling National Conference (NC) worker was being used against him by the Opposition PDP and even by a section of the media. “Just because I’ve rema-ined silent, the Opposition claims I’m guilty,” he said, adding: “My own silence is being used against me.”
The chief minister said that the death of his party worker, Syed Muhammad Yusuf Shah, was “extremely unfortunate” but what was more unfortunate was that the facts in the case were being “twisted”. He said that allegations that he and his father were involved in the death were baseless and false.
Mr Abdullah’s remarks were preceded by pandemonium in the state Asse-mbly over an adjournment motion moved by the PDP to discuss the incident.
Amidst uproarious scen-es, Speaker Muhammad Akbar Lone lost his cool and chose to hurl abusive invectives at PDP legislator Moulvi Iftikhar Hussein Ansari when the latter accused him of being biased and reminded him of his adjourning the House on several occasions past week even on “insignificant” issues.
Mr Ansari, a prominent Shia cleric who has served as a minister in successive governments in the past, reacted by picking up a pedestal fan near him and hurled it towards the Speaker. He missed the target and the fan fell in the well of the House after hitting the desk of the Assembly secretary. No one was hurt. The Speaker adjourned the House for half-an-hour, saying it was Mr Ansari who had provoked him by using foul language and that he only paid him back in kind.