Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee President Tariq Hameed Karra on Thursday said that any confusion between Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, particularly on security matters, would be detrimental to the national interest.
“After the security reviews are happening, I have been maintaining that the meetings are happening in such a way that does not show an inclusive and holistic approach. The chief minister should be present in the security-related meetings; if the CM is not present, his representative should be present. Otherwise, these security matters will start working on crossroads, and instead of security reviews, security confusion will be created," Karra told reporters in Srinagar.
The Congress leader, who is also an MLA from Srinagar, was referring to the recent security review meetings chaired by the LG Sinha following the recent militant attack on workers on the Z-Morh tunnel in the Ganderbal district of the UT in which six workers and a local doctor were killed.
Following the attack, LG chaired security review meetings of the Unified Command in Srinagar and a separate meeting with security chiefs and district commissioners of the valley. In both the meetings, CM Omar was not present. His father and the National Conference president, Farooq Abdullah, had said that Omar was invited, but he was in New Delhi meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
In the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, the chief minister was the head of the Unified Command, composed of army, police, and other security forces chiefs, and would chair all security-related meetings. In the UT, the LG has chaired all the security review meetings.
Karra said that any friction between the chief minister and the LG about security-related matters would not be in the interest of the nation.
"If the chief minister takes a security review that will be contrary to the direction of the LG security review, then will that be in the interest of the security and the nation? No, it won't be," he said.