‘Cabinet expansion likely after bypolls’
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Oct 18: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said that linking the Pahalgam attack with the restoration of Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir is injustice with the people of the region.
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Addressing a press conference here, the Chief Minister said that the Centre never promised of its restoration only after the BJP comes to power.
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“We will have to hope for it. But, it is a fact that the Statehood has been connected with Pahalgam, which is injustice with the people. The elected Government was not responsible for it and the people also didn’t support the attack. Even those involved in the attack and later killed by the security forces were not from J&K. If we connect statehood to Pahalgam then it is injustice to the people,” he said.
“We have been promised in the Parliament and Supreme Court that first delimitation, then election and later Statehood will be restored. Two promises have been kept so far while the third is still pending. We hope it will be kept also and the government will be empowered,” he said.
Omar said that the BJP should be honest in making the promises. “It never stated that statehood will be granted only when they come to power. But, linking it with BJP and alliance with them is out of question. We have been suffering the aftereffects of the unnecessary alliance between BJP and PDP. Therefore, we won’t repeat the mistake that others have made in the past,” he said.
The Chief Minister asserted he will not ally with the BJP to hasten the restoration of statehood to the Union Territory, saying his party has no intention of repeating the “mistakes” committed by others in the past.
“No, my party would ally with the BJP for the restoration of statehood. J&K is still suffering the after-effects” of the PDP-BJP alliance in 2015. We have already seen how much that has destroyed J&K. An unnecessary alliance between the PDP and the BJP was born in 2015. We are still suffering the after-effects of that. I have no intention of repeating mistakes that other people have made,” he added.
Omar said he has had conversations with very senior lawyers both in J&K as well as in Delhi about the possibility of becoming a party in this case as the Chief Minister of J&K. “I don’t think anyone understands the disadvantages that we are put to by being a UT than I do, because I am the only person in the entire country with experience of being a Chief Minister of both the State and a Union Territory. This issue is being actively discussed with a legal team, and based on their opinion, there is a possibility that I will make myself the party of the case,” he said.
On Cabinet expansion, the Chief Minister said it is a fact that constraints of being a Union Territory allows only less number of Ministers and communities don’t get representations within the Government.
“But, this belief that unless you are a Minister you can’t work for an area is incorrect. I am not the Chief Minister of Ganderbal, Sakeena is not the Minister for Noorbabad but of the entire J&K.”
Omar said that there is still the possibility to have a few more Ministers. “It is something I am actively considering. Once bye-elections are held, we will see what happens,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the Cabinet Sub-Committee’s report on rationalization of reservation cannot be made public unless it is approved by the Lieutenant Governor.
He said he had never stated that the report would be made public within days, but, “I had said that the cabinet sub-committee’s report will be prepared in the shape of a cabinet memo and sent to the Lieutenant Governor for approval.”
Omar said it is illegal to make the report public before it reaches the LG. “It will not happen overnight. No Government works under pressure, and I am the last person who you can pressurize. There is a procedure that is being followed. It is not only impropriety but bordering on illegality to release the information that has not even reached the Lieutenant Governor yet,” he said.
The Chief Minister, however, said there is no attempt to hide anything. “Let the cabinet memo be finalized, let it be signed, let it reach the Lieutenant Governor. There is no attempt to hide and delay anything. We have completed our process. It is a matter of days that the Lieutenant Governor signs the cabinet memo, and all information will be put before the people, but we are not going to bypass the procedure just because somebody thinks they can exert pressure,” he said.
Omar said that all promises done with the people will be fulfilled in five years of tenure. “There are some hurdles in our way, but all our promises to the people mentioned in the manifesto will be fulfilled in five years,” he said.
The Chief Minister said his Government’s efforts to bring back tourists to the J&K can work only after the tourist spots closed in the wake of Pahalgam terror attack are reopened.
“First, we have to reopen those places which have been shut. We did not shut these places in 35 years. When the militancy was at its peak, Drang or Doodhpathri were not closed, the upper areas of Gulmarg were not shut, Aru valley was not closed,” he said.
He said some courage is needed to be shown and open tourist spots and promote them effectively. He said that his government is working for restoring tourism to the level which was there before the Pahalgam attack.
“We are trying at our own level despite the fact that we are subjected to taunts that why are we doing so much tourism promotion? We know that homes of lakhs of people depend on it and we want tourism to be restored to the level that was there before the Pahalgam attack.”
The Chief Minister said his government has sent teams outside the country to promote tourism, pointing out that a big delegation is in Singapore to restore tourism from Southeast Asia. “They will also go to Berlin and London next month for tourism promotion,” he added.
“If we talk about within the country, Nasir (Aslam Wani) had recently gone to Udaipur for promotions. We are not leaving any stone unturned. I cannot say that the Centre has not supported us, but the reality is that unfortunately, we are talking in two voices from within J&K.
“On one hand, the elected Government talks about tourism promotion, but on the other, the unelected Government has kept a large part of Kashmir closed for tourism,” he said.
Omar said if they are afraid to reopen famous resorts like Doodhpathri, Drang and some parts of Gulmarg, “it means there is danger. That is the reason the tourists are not coming.”
The Chief Minister stated that the party never promised of doing away with the smart meters in its manifesto. “We had promised 200 free units to the people, which can only be possible when the smart meters are installed. If smart meters are not installed then promises can’t be fulfilled as there would be no process to gauge the load of consumers,” he said.
Omar said that the government has been trying to ensure the people would have better supply and reduction in the power bills and this has been possible only after the smart meter installation. “The department tried to ensure better supply during winters and in recent floods as well, the electricity supply was restored. I want to ensure better supply to people, infrastructure to fulfill our promises,” he added.
The Chief Minister also said that as far as poor consumers are concerned, proper assessment of the load has resulted in reduction in their electricity bills. “We want to ensure free units to the poor, reduction in bills and better supply to the consumers,” he said.
Omar said the party has promised to remove the Public Safety Act. “But for that, we will need Statehood, and the elected government should have law and order in its hands. If that happens, I won’t wait for the assembly but pass an ordinance to remove the PSA,” he said.
About the absence of Advocate General, Omar said, “The government, soon after assuming the office, had appointed an Advocate General; in fact, the existing AG was asked to continue, but he was stopped from attending work. I don’t know for what reason he was asked to stop. I believe the authority to appoint an Advocate General is with the elected government.”
He said the absence of the AG is not good for J&K. “He (AG) is the legal face of the Government. We are probably the only state or UT in the country that doesn’t have an Advocate General to attend the court,” he said.
“Some disagree, but we continue to press this case. We are also pressing for the clarity of the Business Rules that were cleared by the cabinet in March this year. Hopefully, when those go ahead, we will be able to address this,” he said.
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