While the Ram Jethmalani-led Kashmir committee met most of the separatist leaders and some mainstream politicians during its five-day visit to the valley which ended today, the chief minister did not meet the panel.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has virtually snubbed the Kashmir committee led by noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani by not meeting its members, prompting the senior BJP leader to launch a scathing attack on the state government today.
While the Jethmalani-led Kashmir committee met most of the separatist leaders and some mainstream politicians during its five-day visit to the valley which ended today, Abdullah did not meet the panel.
"Omar Abdullah did not meet us. So, I cannot confront him. But I am really dissatisfied with the state of governance here," Jethmalani told reporters in Srinagar.
He claimed that there were some clear cases of injustice which any chief minister should have taken care of.
"There are obvious cases of innocents where even common sense cannot say that this man requires to be detained. How can you detain a man for 18 years without trial?" he asked.
On whether last year's summer unrest was due to governance deficit, Jethmalani said, "To some extent, yes, and to some extent (because of) outside interference. Some fault may lie in Delhi...but basically the disease is local...it is local incompetence".
He said the situation in Kashmir was fraught with dangers and it can take an ugly turn. "All kinds of dangers can emanate if the situation continues. If people are unhappy, they can revert to other methods of settling the cases of injustice," he said.
Abdullah's apparent snub to the Kashmir committee was the second setback to the unofficial initiative for finding a solution to Kashmir issue.
Earlier, JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik refused to meet the committee saying it was responsible for the split in the separatist camp during its foray into interlocution in the valley in 2002.
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