by admin | May 25, 2021 | Media, News, Politics
Srinagar : Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday wondered if the situation in Jammu and Kashmir had deteriorated so badly that the government was afraid of allowing foreign correspondents to report freely from the state.
Annie Gowen, the India bureau chief of Washington Post, tweeted on Tuesday that she was in Kashmir for a friend’s wedding.
But she said she was not reporting because the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs had not granted the special permit now required for foreign correspondents. She said she applied for it on June 22. “Unacceptable delay.”
The National Conference leader took exception to the denial of permission to Gowen.
“Has the situation in Kashmir deteriorated to such an extent that we are now afraid to let foreign correspondents report freely from Kashmir? Another crowning achievement of BJP’s Kashmir policy ably assisted by its partner in crime the PDP.”
In the early 1990s too, foreign journalists had to seek permission from the Home Ministry to report from Jammu and Kashmir.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Finance, News, Politics
Jammu : Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday sought the intervention of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Union Finance Ministry to have the Pay and Accounts Office (PAO) system implemented in Jammu and Kashmir after it was put on hold a day ago.
Syed Altaf Bukhari, the new Finance Minister, on Tuesday ordered to put on hold the implementation of the PAO system till March 31.
Reacting to this decision, Abdullah sought the central government’s intervention.
“@PMOIndia and @FinMinIndia need to take a long, hard look at the reasons behind the sudden and arbitrary reversal of the PAO system that had been introduced in Jammu and Kashmir,” the National Conference leader said in a tweet.
In another post on his widely followed Twitter handle, Abdullah chided the PDP-BJP ruling coalition for hyping the PAO system as a novelty that would dispense with the centuries old treasury system in the state.
“For three years the state legislature was told that this reform would be a major step towards transparent use of funds.
“A measure approved by legislative vote has been overturned by a mere government order,” Abdullah said.
Envisaged and championed by the state’s former Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu who was sacked by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday, Drabu’s successor, Syed Ali Bukhari ordered on Tuesday that the system be put on hold till March 31.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Omar Abdullah
Jammu : Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday accused the BJP of trying to turn the issue of Article 35A of the Indian Constitution into a Hindu versus Muslim issue.
The BJP was also trying to convert the issue into a state versus rest of the country issue after falling short of arguments to justify their moves on the matter, the National Conference Working President said while addressing people in Darhal area of Rajouri district.
Abdullah asked how could critics of the National Conference point fingers against it for opposing what he called were clandestine moves to get repealed Article 35A, which he said was a constitutional guarantee to the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh for preserving their distinct identity and dignity, irrespective of religion or caste.
He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of dividing people on region and religion lines to further its anti-people agenda.
“Article 35A reflects our identity, it allows us to shape our destiny, and so we cannot let it go,” the former Chief Minister said.
The National Conference leader cautioned people not to remain complacent on this sensitive issue.
“The pen and inkpot party (People’s Democratic Party’s election symbol) had been conceived to further the agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP in this state”, he claimed.
Omar Abdullah accused the PDP of submitting to the BJP’s whims and fancies, be it on the Goods and Services Tax or the National Food Security Act.
He said GST implementation was a “tremendous setback” to the state’s fiscal autonomy while the NFSA had broken the backbone of the poor.
“I opposed the Food Security Act’s implementation despite frequent demands by our then alliance partner the Congress. By agreeing to implement the NFSA, the PDP has forced the state’s people into submission and deprived them of the bare minimum rations,” the former Chief Minister said.
—IANS
