Addressing issues of restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, tourism revival, and the importance of coordination between power centres to ensure law and order, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah held a high-level meeting in the picturesque destination of Gulmarg on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Deputy Inspector General, North Kashmir, and Senior Superintendent of Police, Baramulla, among others.
On being asked if the topic of restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir had receded into the background in the wake of the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that took 26 lives, Abdullah asserted that the conversation had not stalled.
“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,” Abdullah told reporters at Gulmarg Club.
Highlighting the need for coordination between the three power centres in J&K: the elected government, the Union government, and the Lieutenant Governor’s office, the CM absolved his government of the responsibility of ensuring law and order in the region, saying that it lay, instead, with the Lieutenant Governor.
“The fact is that security and law and order is not the responsibility of the elected government. Whose responsibility is it? The Lieutenant Governor...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 infrastructure for tourism... But the security of the tourists currently resides within the powers of the Lieutenant Governor and that is the point I made that the Union Government, elected government, and Raj Bhavan, we need to work together to ensure that what happened on 22nd April doesn’t happen again...” he said.
Praising the people of Kashmir for speaking unitedly against the Pahalgam attack without being led by politicians or religious leaders, the CM said that the Valley’s stakeholders – its residents – must come forward to visit its tourist places to instil a sense of safety in people across India.
Abdullah has been making concerted efforts to promote tourism in the region after the attack that crippled the world-famous vacation spot’s fame. On Tuesday, he had cycled to Pahalgam to encourage eco-friendly travel.
With the Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet holding its first meeting after the attack in Pahalgam on Tuesday, Abdullah said that it was a “clear message” to terrorists that “enemies of peace will never dictate our resolve.”
He also held a meeting with as many as 60 tour operators from Maharashtra and Gujarat at a hotel to talk about ways to boost the region’s tourism.
“We were not even expecting them [tour operators] to turn up. They came here on their own to boost the morale of the people of Kashmir and tell them that tourism should be revived here, and they will help us in the same.”
The CM revealed there were plans to construct a memorial in Baisaran – the scene of the dastardly attack – in memory of the victims. “...We have been saying since the beginning that we will make a memorial in Baisaran, Pahalgam, in the memory of those 26 people. We will never forget it... This was decided in the cabinet meeting, which was held in Pahalgam a few hours ago. The PWD has been authorised to give official approval. We will take suggestions from the people on how the memorial should be so that we can have a tasteful memorial for those 26 people,” he said.
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