J&K assembly disrupted, both houses adjourned

Jammu, Jan 2 (IANS) The Jammu and Kashmir assembly was adjourned on Monday amid opposition protests after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti blamed the National Conference for rigging elections and giving birth to militancy.

"People who sowed seeds of secession by demanding plebiscite in the state also rigged elections in 1987 to give birth to militancy," the Chief Minister told the house.

The National Conference members took strong exception to the remarks and started raising their voice.

One member, Abdul Majid Larmi, told Mehbooba Mufti that her late father and former Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed was a part of the National Conference-Congress government in 1987 and so should be held responsible for the alleged rigging.

The opposition members earlier walked out of the legislative council during obituary references after creating a ruckus in the house over last summer's unrest in the Kashmir Valley.

As obituary references were being read out in the upper house of the bicameral legislature, the members from the National Conference and the Congress assembled near the Speaker's podium.

They shouted slogans against killings of civilians in the valley during the five-month of unrest following the killing of militant Burhan Wani in July.

They also shouted slogans against the use of pellets and PAVA shells by security forces.

Without heeding to repeated requests from Council Chairman Haji Anayat Ali to restore calm, the opposition members finally walked out.

The opposition also interrupted Governor N.N. Vohra's address to the joint session.