Nothing amiss, Governor assures J&K, but Omar wary

Srinagar: Even as the Jammu & Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Saturday assured the people that he has no knowledge of any upcoming changes in constitutional provisions, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah sought Centre’s intervention. He said that the Governor was not the final word on Kashmir and he would want to hear from the Union government on this “war-like” situation in Kashmir.

Malik, on the other hand appealed to the people to not link the deployment of forces with the special constitutional status of Jammu & Kashmir. He also appealed to the mainstream political parties not to indulge in rumour mongering and keep their composure. The valley is rife with rumours regarding abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A, and division of the state.

Omar Abdullah on Saturday met state Governor Satya Pal Malik at Raj Bhawan and asked him to reassure the people. Kashmir is in a state of panic and chaos after the security advisory on Friday suspended the Amarnath Yatra and asked the tourists to leave the state as soon as possible.

More than 12,000 tourists including Amarnath pilgrims and 200 foreigners were stranded at the airport. Due to this sudden advisory, all private airlines and Air India have decided to give full fee waivers on rescheduling of cancellation of flights to and fro from Srinagar till 15 August.

After meeting Malik on Saturday Omar Abdullah told the media there were no instructions from the government on either repeal of Article 370 or Article 35(A) or dividing the state into three parts. Earlier, on Friday late night Mehbooba Mufti led an all-party delegation to Raj Bhawan and asked the Governor to clear the air regarding the heavy development of forces in the past two days. Mufti even tweeted that the Government of India was only interested in the territory of Kashmir and not in its people. She also criticised the government for cancelling the Yatra vacating hotels.

A press release from Raj Bhawan said that the security situation in the state required immediate action. The press release further said that there were credible inputs regarding a ;possible terrorist attack on Amarnath Yatra. It read, “This is just a security measure, which is being mixed up with unrelated issues. Panic is unnecessarily being created.” Malik told the delegation, “It is in this security context that the government had issued an advisory on Friday asking pilgrims and tourists to return as soon as possible.”