Monday, February 27 2006 15:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jammu: National Conference (NC) legislators today (Feb 27 2006) boycotted the Governor's address to the joint session of the J-K legislature and held a protest rally in front of the legislative complex here in protest against the recent killing of four youths allegedly by security forces in Handwara.

The legislators - both of the assembly and of the council - sat on a dharna on the stairs of the legislative complex before the arrival of Governor Lt. General (Retd) S K Sinha, who was scheduled to deliver his address at the central hall of the legislative complex.

About 35 NC legislators sat on a dharna for about an hour and raised slogans against the government and demanded a judicial probe into the incident by a sitting judge of the High Court.

The leader of the opposition in the Assembly, A R Rather, who led the dharna, said that government should immediately order a high level time-bound probe into the incident and make public the findings of the report.

Rather, one of the senior leaders of the National Conference, said the government should ensure that such incidents do not occur in future.

He also alleged that People's Democartic Party headed by Mehbooba Mufti was exploiting the issue and sheding crocodile tears over it.

"Had they been concerned about the killings of the innocent youth, PDP, being a partner in the coalition government, would have ensured to have got the matter probed and brought the guilty to book," he added.