SRINAGAR, Sept 7: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said he is in constant touch with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on several issues pending between the Union Territory and the Centre, including restoration of statehood.
Talking to reporters here, Omar said J&K and the Centre have pending issues, such as restoration of statehood, approval of business rules, the appointment of the advocate general delayed for almost two years now and the reservation report that has not been forwarded to the Union Government after the Union Territory cabinet answered the queries raised earlier.
On his recent meeting with Shah in New Delhi, the Chief Minister said: “Discussions were held on all these issues in my meeting with the Home Minister.”
Omar described the hunger strike by the medical interns in Medical Colleges as unfortunate and said that the situation should not have reached this point.
“…this is a matter of the Health Department. Until the department takes a decision, no other department can do anything,” he added.
The Chief Minister said Health Minister Sakeena Itoo has spoken to the interns and, as far as he knew, they had been assured of action.
“The matter should be resolved quickly as the interns’ work and internships were being affected. We don’t want our children to do this either,” he said, adding that the health department would have to take the first decision before the rest of the Government could act.
On threats to Kashmiri Pandits, Omar said that Kashmir has already paid a heavy price for what happened in the early 90s and this can’t be afforded.
“People had been targeted because of their ethnicity or religion, including employees and private citizens working at places such as chemist shops, dhabas and banks,” he said.
The Chief Minister urged the security establishment to take the threats seriously, investigate them and identify those behind them.
“…I hope that the security establishment takes these threats seriously, investigate them and find who are the people behind it and the law follows its own course,” he added.
On the international film festival, Omar said it is a reminder to the country’s filmmakers that Kashmir was the premier shooting destination before they started going to Switzerland and other foreign locations.
“It is a good initiative that the Government is organising the first international film festival. There are several objectives behind it. First, it will provide exposure to international films to our mass-communication students and movie lovers. It will also be a learning experience for our local filmmakers,” he said.
“It is also an effort to remind the producers that before they went to Switzerland and other countries to shoot movies, it was done in Kashmir and we would like the process to be resumed,” he added.
On the demolition of a Masjid in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur, the Chief Minister said it is unfortunate that Muslims are being treated as the “other entity” in the country.
“Their leaders make statements that Muslims are an inseparable part of the society but on the ground, these things happen. They do not listen to their own leaders,” he said.
