Army to stand by till next week
SYED ALI SAFVI
SRINAGAR, July 10: In a candid confession of his own failure to deal with the recent spurt in mass protests in the wake of civilian killings that have rocked the valley for the last couple of weeks, chief minister, Omar Abdullah, today said that the ongoing political unrest was not only giving him sleepless nights, but had also caused huge setback to him both personally and politically.
"I have got to re-build it brick by brick," Omar said.
The beleaguered chief minister also brushed aside speculations that he would step aside to make way for his father and union minister, Farooq Abdullah, to take reins of the state.
In different interviews with selective media organizations here today, the chief minister said that he was not the one who would shy away from his responsibilities.
"Even if my finger is not on the trigger, the butt of the rifle is on my shoulder," he said.
Stating that the decision to call in the army was taken under extremely difficult circumstances, Omar said that the army would not be withdrawn from the valley at least till July 13, Kashmir's Martyrs' day.
He said that he had a tough time to convince himself before taking the decision.
"I had lengthy discussions with my ministerial colleagues about the appropriateness of it. I spent a lot of time on self introspection," he said.
Admitting that he knew practically it would not be a wise decision, Omar rued he had no other option under the circumstances.
Giving the reason for deploying the army, Omar said, "we needed a breathing space to give tempers a chance to cool."
"It was to send out a message that the curfew was in place and it had to be respected," he said. "The decision was also aimed at moving required battalions of CRPF and state police from peripherals to interiors where we feared trouble."
Stating that killing of a 25-year-old woman, Fancy, on July 6, 2010 added fuel to the fire and further fanned the anger.
"When Fancy died the mood changed completely and we didn't want to take chances. The mood was such that no political reaching out could have worked," he said.
Maintaining that the decision of deploying the army should be seen in the light of its consequences, the chief minister said that so far we had not had a "serious incident of trouble".
"The decision (of brining the army) was the right one. It's not the decision that was taken lightly. Nor do I hope to ever have to take a decision like this for the duration that I am chief minister," he said.
Maintaining that the army was not used since yesterday, Omar said that the state government would consider the option of withdrawing the army only after July 13.
"We have not cancelled our request given the problems we were facing," he said. The situation is being monitored on a daily basis. I think we might wish to have that option available to us till the 13th (of July) and then take a call on it."
The chief minister also expressed his desire to meet the family members of all those civilians who were killed in police or CRPF action.
"That's something I would need to do. Not politically. So don't be surprised if you don't see it on any channel or read about it in any newspaper," he said. "But just for my own personal atonement for the way that I feel that would be something I would like to do".
Referring to the accusation of opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP), Omar said, "Well the facts and figures speak otherwise. There were disturbances and civilian causalities were more during their regime. The PDP rule came when New Delhi and Islamabad were getting close. Roads were opened, talks were held with Pakistan and Hurriyat. Guess (the then chief minister Mufti Sayeed) he had no complaints but still the causalities happened."
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