Coalition legislators support Omar, praise his performance

Soz says Centre, Congress are with CM; Farooq wants loyal officials on key positions

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Jul 11: In the middle of current political turmoil and uncertainty in Jammu and Kashmir, legislators of the coalition constituents today extended unconditional support to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and asserted in unison that he was politically correct in all of his initiatives to deal with disturbance in parts of Kashmir valley. While the state Congress chief, Saifuddin Soz, asserted that the Centre as well as his party were on the back of Chief Minister, National Conference (NC) President, Dr Farooq Abdullah, set aside all speculation of his replacing Omar Abdullah as the head of the coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir. Dr Abdullah, however, stressed on need to appoint ‘loyal’ officials on key positions in the state government.

Legislators of the ruling coalition constituents today held a three-hour-long meeting to discuss the current political turmoil ahead of the state-sponsored all-party meeting. NC President and Union Minister of New & Renewable Energy, Dr Farooq Abdullah, and President of J&K State Pradesh Congress Committee and head of the coalition coordination committee, Prof Saifuddin Soz, were both present at the meeting. Almost all 80-odd Ministers, MLAs and MLCs of NC, Congress, besides Democratic Party (Nationalist) President and Minister of Agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir, participated in the meeting at Banquet Hall on Maulana Azad Road.

Minister of Forest, Mian Altaf Ahmed, and Minister of Animal Husbandry, Aga Syed Ruhullah, were not present. Sources said that both the NC Ministers were currently out of the state. Even as most of the Ministers, MLAs and MLCs were already in town, state helicopters were pressed into service to get Minister of CAPD, Qamar Ali Akhoon, from Kargil, Minister of Agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir, from Tangmarg and NC’s MLA, Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, from Handwara. Still, some of the associate members of the ruling coalition, namely Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami of CPI (M), Hakeem Mohammad Yasin of PDP besides independent MLA from Langet, Engineer Sheikh Abdul Rashid, were conspicuously absent.

Initiating the proceedings, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah gave a run-down of the sequence of incidents in Srinagar and some other parts of the valley and asserted that his government had taken all necessary measures to restore peace and infuse a sense of confidence among the angry youth. He said that Police and security forces observed maximum possible restraint but, unfortunately, still 15 people, mostly youth, got killed in these incidents. He said that his government was adopting all necessary initiatives including legal and disciplinary action against Police and paramilitary personnel involved in excessive use of force. He referred to the death of three youth in Anantnag last week and said that action was underway under the erring personnel. He said that he and his colleagues would leave no stone unturned in reaching out to the common people, particularly those angry with the government, and restore their confidence.

Nevertheless, according to sources present at the meeting, Omar pointed out that most of the incidents of stone pelting and demonstrations had surfaced in the areas which had a sizeable presence of separatist activists and sympathizers. He pointed out with specific reference to different segments that there was still complete peace and tranquility in the areas which had enthusiastically participated with huge turnout in the last Assembly elections.

In his key address, Dr Abdullah set aside all speculations and made it clear that there was no possibility of his replacing Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister in J&K. He said that the Government under Omar would last its term of six years. Dr Abdullah referred to his 1996-2002 regime and said that his party had successfully come out of worse situations. He asserted that working with confidence and correct measures, NC-led coalition government would soon restore peace and usher in a new era of development. He, however, cautioned his colleagues against ignoring loyal workers and asked Chief Minister to take everybody in the party and the coalition on board with regard to decision making.

Significantly, Dr Abdullah stressed on the need of appointing “officials loyal to the coalition, the state and its people” on key positions in the administration.

JKPCC President, Prof Soz, asserted that the Centre as well as Congress party were behind Chief Minister Omar Abdullah like a rock. Claiming to be speaking on behalf of Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh and AICC President and UPA Chairperson, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Soz said that Chief Minister would continue to get whatever support he required from New Delhi. Most of the speakers described Omar as a well performing Chief Minister and asserted that he was politically correct in all of his initiatives including calling in Army for assistance of Police and civil administration.

Ajay Sadhotra, Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, Khalid Najeeb Suharwardy, Mir Saifullah of NC besides Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Abdul Majeed Wani and Veqar Rasool of Congress followed Omar, Farooq and Soz in addressing the meeting.

An officiakl spokesman later said that the meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, expressed deep sorrow over the unfortunate happenings in the recent past in the state and expressed sincere anguish and grief over the loss of life and property in these incidents. Sources said that the participants reviewed current political and security scenario threadbare and finally passed various resolutions aimed at bringing peace and order back to the disturbed areas.

A resolution passed in the meeting expressing sympathies with the bereaved families in the recent incidents said: “We are deeply pained at the unfortunate happenings in the recent past in the State and sincerely express our anguish and grief over the loss of life and property in these incidents – our whole hearted sympathies are with the bereaved families. The government has decided to provide all possible help and relief to such aggrieved families”.

The meeting appreciated the steps taken by the Government for restoring peace in the state. A resolution passed in this regard states: “We appreciate the steps taken by the Government, in its sincere desire of restoring peace in the State with the firm conviction of holding / protecting the rights of the people and causing minimum inevitable inconvenience to the public at large”.

The meeting in another resolution appealed to the people to extend fullest cooperation for restoration of peace and normalcy irrespective of their political affiliations. It said: “We make a fervent and sincere appeal to all right thinking people irrespective of their political affiliations and ideologies to come forward at this crucial juncture and extend their active and positive support, and full cooperation in restoring peace and tranquility in the State for the larger good and in the best interests of the masses which is a sine-qua-non to the resolution of the issues and problems confronting them. It is our firm belief that such a support and cooperation shall go a long way in protecting the life and property of the people at large and restoring peace in the State”.

It was also resolved that the “Government will put in place an appropriate mechanism to address the grievances and problems of the people in a more vibrant systematic, regular and time bound manner which will be viewed and reviewed from time to time by the Government”.

In another resolution passed at the end, participants unanimously expressed full faith and confidence in the leadership of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

END