Criminal case filed against SASB CEO for communalising situation

Srinagar, Jun 19 (UNI) Demanding immediate removal of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) Dr Arun Kumar from the state for his recent controversial statements, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig today said that a criminal case has been filed against him in the court of law for trying to communalise the situation.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) general secretary has initiated the criminal case against Kumar, he said.

Addressing a press conference here this afternoon Mr Baig called upon the government, including Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to initiate disciplinary action against Mr Kumar.

He said Mr Kumar had criticised the role of the Cabinet and Minister, which was not appropriate for a government official.

Mr Baig said that the CEO had tried to communalise the situation and divide the communities by saying 'Muslim pollution and Hindu pollution''.

Mr Kumar had said that Muslims going to perform Haj in aeroplanes cause pollution, Mr Baig said.

''Mr Kumar is a disgrace on the bureaucracy from which he comes, to the state, to the Shrine board and I am sure to his own parents,'' Mr Baig alleged.

He talks as if he is the king of Jammu and Kashmir and we are all slaves, he alleged. This, he said, will not be tolerated.

Mr Baig said we have heard about communalising the police somewhere in the rest of the country, but this is for the first time that a bureaucrat has tried to communalise the situation.

He said if Mr Kumar has backing of the Governor Lt General (Retd) S K Sinha then it is a matter of shame that an officer who works under the head of state should talk like that.

The Governor should make clear his position as it was not an ordinary matter concerning one state or a political party.

We believe that this issue does not belong to only one political party or Hurriyat Conference or militants but it concerns to everyone who lives in Jammu and Kashmir.

''By accession we have not mortgaged our honour and dignity.. we are not anybody's slaves and if officers like that are not punished and removed from the state there would be agitation for which the officer and his bosses would be responsible, Mr Baig warned.

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