Omar Delhi Visit “Hasty”, He’ll Be "Embarrassed" if Statehood Not Granted Soon;Bad Relations With LG

Описание: "Not a good relationship" between LG and CM in J&K; Omar's visit to Delhi was "hasty" and he'll be "embarrassed" if statehood isn't quickly granted: Amarjit Singh Dulat

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In an interview to talk both about the new Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his demand for the early grant of statehood as well as the recent spike in terror in the union territory, a former Head of R&AW and one of India’s renowned experts on Kashmir has said the relationship between the Lieutenant Governor and Chief Minister is “not a good relationship”. Amarjit Singh Dulat has also said that Omar Abdullah’s coming to Delhi within days of taking over was “hasty”, adding he will “look embarrassed” if Delhi doesn’t restore statehood quickly.



In a 30-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Amarjit Singh Dulat also said that “terror has never gone away in J&K”. He identified three broad causes for the present prolonged spike in terror. They are, first, a deliberate effort by Pakistan to tell the Kashmiri people that Pakistan is with them and supports them, second, a deliberate attempt by terrorists to disprove the Lieutenant Governor’s narrative that everything is normal and, third, the continuing impact of abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 which, Mr. Dulat said, “still disturbs Kashmiris … it’s not done and dusted, it’s not out of the minds of Kashmiris.”



Speaking about the relationship between the new Chief Minister and Lieutenant Governor, Mr. Dulat said “a message is being sent by the Governor that he is still in control”. Mr. Dulat said every time the Chief Minister calls a meeting of bureaucrats the Governor does the same thing. He said the relationship between the LG and the CM is not working well.



Mr. Dulat said if Farooq Abdullah had been Chief Minister he would not have come to Delhi so quickly after taking over. Mr. Dulat said the Kashmiri people are closely watching and scrutinizing everything, including the fact Omar Abdullah gifted expensive shawls to the Prime Minister, Home Minister and other top ministers. However, Mr. Dulat did not think this was an error on the new Chief Minister’s part.



Speaking about the recent prolonged spike in terror, Mr. Dulat spoke about areas where the jurisdiction of the Northern Command of the army and the Western Command meet and suggested that there could be “gaps” or “misunderstandings” which are allowing the terror to happen.



Mr. Dulat said the right response to the spike in terror is for the Modi government “to engage with Kashmiris”. He said: “Delhi needs to figure out if its muscular policy will sort out Kashmir or if it should go back to the Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh approach.”



Mr. Dulat said Delhi needs to take “a more empathetic approach”. One important step would be the immediate restoration of statehood.



I will stop there and leave you to see the interview to hear everything else Mr. Dulat has said. There’s a lot else that he has said.



Here is the link to the interview:



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