Omar criticises J&K administration for failure to detect imposter

Omar Abdullah addressing a rally in Nagrota [Photo : SNS]


Targeting the J&K administration for providing VVIP treatment to a conman from Gujarat, former chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Monday said how can we expect a government that doesn’t know the difference between a genuine officer at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and an imposter, to resolve actual problems of the people.

Omar was speaking in a rally at Majalta in Nagrota near here.

“You must have seen that a man (Kiran Patel) came here and told the Government that he works in the PMO, they didn’t even try to find out the truth and provided him a bulletproof SUV, police pilot, two escort vehicles, para-military security, 5-star hotel to stay and all other hospitality. He was also taken to the sensitive LOC at Uri and officers would bow before him.

On the other hand, security cover of ex-ministers and NC activists, who faced terrorist attacks in the past, has been withdrawn. This is the difference between an elected government and the one that has been imposed from New Delhi, Omar said.

Everyone living in Jammu and Kashmir is worried today. No one knows when a new order dispossessing people of their lands or imposing new taxes will be issued by the Lt. Governor’s administration. What is common among the people in Jammu and those in the Kashmir valley these days is the anger against the administration. Smile has vanished from the face of common masses as the small land holdings provided to them by Sheikh Abdullah in the 1950s are being snatched back by the present dispensation.

Instead of purchasing buses for school children and ambulances for the sick, the government has acquired bulldozers to pulldown houses built by poor people.

Advising the administration to uphold the rule of law and while reacting to LG Manoj Sinha criticising National Conference and PDP on the recruitment process in J&K, Omar said nobody is advocating that hardcore terrorists should be given Government jobs but it is also wrong to punish somebody just because they have the misfortune of being related to a terrorist. This is not the way to win the hearts and minds of people and this is not something that we will ever support.