Jammu: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and People's Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday reiterated her demand to sack a blacklisted firm from conducting the Computer Based Tests (CBTs) for various job exams in the union territory. Speaking at a presser at Jammu, the former J&K CM said that unless the government sacks APTECH, the “root-cause of the problems”, deferring the exams will be of no use.
“The employees who hired the APTECH firm should be sacked too and the contract to conduct the exams should be given to a transparent agency,” she said. Over the recent joint protest by the Jammu and Kashmir political parties in Jammu against the hiring of the blacklisted firm by the Lieutenant Governor administration, Mehbooba said that the fight was half won.
The PDP president's statement comes amid an uproar by the unemployed youths in Jammu and Kashmir over the continuation of APTECH as an exam conducting firm despite being blacklisted elsewhere. Many job examinations in the union territory including for the recruitment of police sub-inspectors have been marred with allegations of fraud prompting the administration to cancel the recruitments much to the frustration of job aspirants.
Besides the APTECH row, Mehbooba also dwelt on a host of issues in Jammu and Kashmir. Mehbooba alleged that after the abrogation of Article 370 in JK, people are subject to suppression. “Mining contracts are given to outsiders at the cost of locals. In Jammu, doing away with Darbar Move has hit the businesses,” she said.
Mehbooba also sought to draw a parallel between raids on ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan and the ED and CBI raids on opposition leaders back home. “The situation is not very different from Pakistan,” she added. Over sacking of employees by the LG administration on terror charges, the PDP president said, “The LG is depriving people of jobs but not recruiting new people.
When uneducated youth protest against irregularities in the recruitment, they are being met with force. Lt Guv will be known for the record sacking of employees”, Over her temple visit in Poonch today, Mehbooba said, “Ours is a secular country of Ganga-Jamuna culture. Yashpal Sharma ji has built the temple and requested me to visit it. As I stepped inside, someone handed me the bowl of milk to present it to the Shivling and so I couldn't say no”.
