J&K Assembly session starts on stormy note

 The autumn session which is the last one of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly started on a stormy note on Monday as the opposition members targeted the state government over several issues including repeated ceasefire violations by the Pakistani Army.

As the House assembled for the six-day session, the National Panthers Party member Balwant Singh Mankotia disrupted the proceedings over the issue of repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops.

The Speaker Mubarak Gul asked the MLA, who was sloganeering inside the House, to allow the obituary references and bring in a motion for discussion on the issue. However, as Mankotia refused to obey the orders of the chair, he was evicted from the Assembly by marshals on the orders of the Speaker. 

“His behaviour has been worst. I appeal to people of his constituency to teach him a lesson (in the upcoming polls),” Gul remarked.

Talking to reporters outside the House Mankotia said: “There is chaos on the Indian side of the border because of the continuous firing by the Pakistani. People do not have anything to eat. They are sleeping on the roads and in schools.”

“Neither the Centre nor the state government has made any arrangements for the people,” he added.

The members of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also intervened when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was speaking in the House on ceasefire violations.

This will be the last session of the current Assembly as elections to the new legislature will have to be completed before January 5 next year.