The high-powered cabinet committee on security (CCS) seems to have empowered Omar Abdullah.
After attending a CCS meeting convened by prime minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Monday, the chief minister showed a lot of resolve to restore the state’s authority in Kashmir, which is witnessing a fresh wave of bloody unrest. Another seven people were killed in firing by security forces in the Valley on Monday, taking the toll since Friday to 21.
Scotching rumours that the cornered leader was about to quit in the face of incessant violence, Omar demanded a political, not economic, package for Kashmir to resolve the current crisis.
Speaking to the media, he urged the protesting youths of the Valley to refrain from violence and give peace a chance before initiatives are taken to resolve the Kashmir issue. If the situation is to improve, “restraint has to be from both sides”, he said, urging the youths not to damage government property.
Omar indicated that the situation would henceforth be dealt with sternly. “There is no other way [strict curfew will have to be imposed in the Valley],” he said.
The CCS meeting, which was also attended by the home, external affairs, defence and finance ministers, accepted his demand for more paramilitary force personnel while ruling out the possibility of using the army to control the situation.
Omar said his government had taken initiatives to start a dialogue with all shades of the Kashmiri society, including the separatist All-Party Hurriyat Conference. But things would proceed only if peace prevails, he said.
Meanwhile, the Kashmir turmoil reverberated in Lok Sabha, with veteran BJP leader LK Advani demanding that the government take the House into confidence on the goings-on in the Valley. He, supported by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, JD-U president Sharad Yadav and CPM’s Basudeb Acharia, offered BJP’s full support on the subject.
