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| Omar takes U-turn | | | Instead of red carpet welcome it was plain speaking during the meeting between Chief Minister,Omar Abdullah,and Prime Minister,Manmohan Singh,besides the union Home Minister,P.Chidambaram in New Delhi the other day.Reports indicate that Omar had not gone on his own to meet the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister.He had been summoned after the centre had received disturbing reports regarding the security scenario in the kashmir valley.The central leadership had become upset over the way Omar Abdullah had announced,without seeking prior approval or consent from the Government of India,that the State police will replace the CRPF in Baramullah.The centre realised the mistake of having agreed to Omar Abdullah when he had phoned the union Home Minister after he made the announcement informing Chidambaram that the state police was fully equipped to deal with the situation which had assumed alarming dimensions in the town.Peace was retored only after the troops carried out flag march and enforced curfew r estrictions strictly.These developments are said to have been explained to Omar Abdullah.Omar had gone to Delhi to seek full approval to his plan of replacing the CRPF by the state police.But when he was firmly told that the situation had not yet become conducive for withdrawal of the CRPF and the Army Omar had no other alternative but to announce that there were only 26 police battalions against 75 CRPF battalions in Jammu and kashmir.He stated that since the police had insufficient man power the plan of replacing the CRPF by the state police would have to be deferred.Omar wanted to hijack the PDP patron,Mufti Mohd.Sayeed's agenda by pleading with the centre for the repeal of the Armed Forces(special powers)Act,demilitarisation and replacement of the CRPF by the state police.He had plans of putting on additional political weight by making the centre accept his suggestions.He would have definitely scored over the Mufti had the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister agreed to his proposals.Already the Army authorities are highly annoyed over the plan of the Government to force the troops to work under the orders of the District Magistrates.The displeasure of the Army authorities in Kashmir has been conveyed to the Defence Minister,A.K.Antony,who is said to have directed the field commanders that there would be no interference in their operations by the civil administration.Unfortunately in his race for scoring over the Mufti and in his bid to enlarge his political frame Omar Abdullah seems to have lost whatever he had gained in the past.In fact both the Prime Minister,Manmohan Singh,and the UPA chairperson,Sonia Gandhi,have kept Omar on their watch list.The two leaders would watch his performance for a month or so and if the situation did not improve the centre may be forced to find an alternative to Omar.
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