Security decisions happening in silos under UT model: Omar

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday termed his first year in office “a difficult one” due to major terror attacks, while sharply criticising the Union territory model for creating a “silo” in security decision making. Speaking at an event in New Delhi, Abdullah rejected the notion of a “return” of homegrown terrorism, arguing that it had never truly disappeared.

He also warned that those who believed the post-2019 constitutional changes were a “miraculous cure” for terror were the ones who were surprised by incidents such as the (April 22) attack in Baisaran (Pahalgam) and the (November 10) blast in Delhi.

“Why do you use the word return? When did it ever go away? It was there,” Abdullah said, adding, “The changes that you made to the constitutional relationship between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of India are not going to miraculously result in an end to terror.” Abdullah said he was “actually surprised” that it took this long for people outside Jammu and Kashmir to realise that perhaps things were not as great as they were sold to the rest of the country.

He expressed hope that what happened in Baisaran and in Delhi was a sufficient wake-up call “that we will realise the gravity of what we’re dealing with...” Warning about the potentials of a heightened response, Abdullah said the recent terror incidents have effectively led the country to draw a “line in the sand”, declaring that any similar attack in the future “will be considered an act of war”.

Abdullah suggested that this sharp escalation makes it even more critical to ensure such attacks do not happen again, adding that the Delhi blast’s apparent domestic origin was the only “saving grace”, as it prevented the government from having to immediately enact what he termed the “Modi doctrine on internal security”, a response that was narrowly avoided due to the lack of a visibly “external hand”.

The chief minister also suggested that one “can’t operate governments in silos” where an elected government is completely removed from any security-related decisions.

He wondered how do they expect a proper flow of information if the elected representatives “play no part whatsoever in decisions affecting the security”, and compared his present tenure to his first stint as the CM of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. “I can tell you without the fear of contradiction that the UT model does not work,” he said, adding that he had been kept out of crucial security meetings in J&K which he was governing.

‘Show me the money ma’am’, Omar tellS Sitharaman

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday appreciated Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his “focused” approach to restore the Union territory’s economy, to which he responded by thanking her and quipping, “Please show me the money ma’am.” The finance minister’s commendation, delivered at an event in New Delhi, came while reflecting on the national economy’s journey, and highlighting the specific efforts in Jammu and Kashmir. She recalled how the UT’s economy had been picking up under the Central rule, citing the successful “restoration of the J&K Bank”, and the Centre’s efforts to go into the “granular details” to boost the local economy.

However, she noted that the revival took a “major hit” when the crucial tourism sector “came to a standstill” following external factors, in a veiled reference to border troubles and attacks, including the April 22 incident in Pahalgam. “I must appreciate the chief minister of J&K who met me twice, focused on restoring the economy after the tourism sector came to a standstill,” Sitharaman said.