J-K statehood talks still alive regardless of Pahalgam attack: Omar Abdullah

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the April 22 Pahalgam attack has not stalled the conversation around restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and that he had raised the issue at the recent meeting of NITI Aayog governing council.

“No, not at all. If you were to take out the formal speech that circulated in the NITI Aayog meeting, you will find a categorical mention for return of statehood in that … which was given to the Honourable Prime Minister and all the members of the governing council of the NITI Aayog,” Abdullah told reporters in this tourist resort of north Kashmir, 52 kilometres from Srinagar.

Abdullah was responding to a question whether the Pahalgam terror attack had affected the talk about restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

“So, the conversation around statehood has not stalled. The only thing I was unwilling to do was to use the special session of the (Jammu and Kashmir) assembly to talk about statehood. But that does not mean the conversation has stopped. The conversation is ongoing,” he said.

On the revival of tourism, the chief minister, who chaired a meeting here, said it is the Kashmiris who should be visiting tourist places in the valley before expecting people from other parts of the country to come visiting again.

“There should be publicity and lively activity at these places. I have asked the Education minister to start picnics for schools and colleges so that we start moving back towards normalcy,” he said.

Besides top civil administration officials, the meeting was attended by inspector general of police, Kashmir, deputy inspector general, North Kashmir, and senior superintendent of police, Baramulla.

On Tuesday, Abdullah chaired a meeting of his council of ministers in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam.

The aim behind holding meetings outside the fortified Civil Secretariat is to give the people a sense of security and trust.

“Our endeavour is that a message is sent out that Jammu and Kashmir is ready for tourism,” Abdullah said.

He also said the people elsewhere must not hold the Kashmiris responsible for the attack which left 26 tourists dead.

“The people of Kashmir did not carry out this attack. It was not done with our permission or for our benefit. But still if you punish the people of Kashmir, boycott them, then what shall we do? That is why I want the Centre not to ignore this, it should use the investigating agencies to probe and stop this campaign,” he said.

On a memorial for the Pahalgam attack victims, he said a decision has been taken by the cabinet in this regard and tasked the Roads and Buildings Department to frame a concrete proposal.

“The R&B department has been asked to invite expressions of interest in terms of designs for this memorial. Once it comes, we will take it forward,” he added.

Abdullah said he was thankful that tourism delegations from various parts of the country have come to assess the situation for revival of tourism in Kashmir.

He said that at present some tourist destinations are closed altogether, while there is partial closing down at some destinations.

“This was a compulsion after April 22. We have to slowly and gradually review the list. There was a difference between incidents in the past and this incident. People came out to protest on their own. They condemned it,” he said.

Abdullah also said that Jammu and Kashmir being a Union Territory, the law and order and security are not the responsibility of the elected government.

“Whose responsibility is it? The Lieutenant Governor. Therefore, clearly there are three sets of power centres that need to coordinate to ensure that things go smoothly here. I can promote tourism, I can create the infrastructure, I can ensure that tourists come and have a good visit but the security of the tourists currently resides within the powers of the LG.

“That is the point I made that the Union government, the elected government here and the central government that is represented by the Raj Bhavan … we need to work together to ensure that what happened on April 22 does not happen again,” he said.

The chief minister dismissed suggestions that the relations between the elected government and the Raj Bhavan were not good.

“You only require a thaw if there was a freezing in relations.. When have you heard me alleging a freezing. I am just stating that going ahead we need to work together,” he said.

J & K