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| Omar, Azad at daggers drawn | | Relief, rescue work | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Sept 15: Under attack NC leader and beleaguered Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is furious. What has upset and angered him all the more is the charge that the relief and rescue teams in the marooned Kashmir valley are discriminating between VIPs and common Kashmiris. It was none other than senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, who two days ago launched a blistering attack on those involved in the relief and rescue operations in the flood-ravaged Kashmir valley, particularly Srinagar, saying they were discriminating between the VIPs and common Kashmiris. He had even questioned the role of the Army and it was a complete U-turn -- U-turn because earlier he had commended the role of the Army, Air Force and others and even hailed the efforts of the Union Government.
It was this uncalled for and provocative charge levelled by Azad and similar other irresponsible and communally-motivated elements that irritated and angered Omar Abdullah. He was so upset by the attack of irresponsible Azad that he on Sunday lambasted him and others of his ilk without, of course, naming him. Countering the charge and hitting out at "rumour" mongers, Omar Abdullah said that they were wrongly spreading that "rescue operations are focused only on outsiders and VIPs and not residents of the Valley" and asserted that rescue and relief operations are being intensified to rescue those still trapped at different places without any discrimination.
He also set the record straight and told reporters at Srinagar that about 80,000 people of the Valley were rescued by the armed forces and NDRF from their marooned houses, while 13,100 were airlifted out of Kashmir. "Rescue efforts continue apace. The sense that has been generated in Srinagar is that rescue effort has been focused only on tourists, VIPs and outside labour. When you look at numbers, nothing can be further from truth," he said, and added that the Army alone had rescued some 59,000 people of Kashmir, while the NDRF figure stands at 10,000. Besides, CRPF and others also rescued. "The number of people flown out of Srinagar by helicopters is 13,100. That by itself suggests that the lion's share of rescue has been focused on residents of Kashmir who have not left the town. I think it is important to dispel that this entire rescue operation was focused on outsiders and no Srinagar resident was rescued…I want people of Srinagar to understand that our efforts are not focused purely on outsiders. We have rescued everybody whom we could reach," he also said. Omar Abdullah has done a right thing by setting the record straight. It is a matter of regret that Azad has jumped on to bandwagon of the likes of Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed, who have accused New Delhi of exporting "Water terror" to POJK and Pakistan. |
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