Pahalgam attack underscores the need for 24x7 vigilance Omar Abdullah

    Kolkata, Jul 10 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people were killed, has underscored the need for round-the-clock alertness to prevent such incidents from recurring.
    Addressing a tourism promotion event here aimed at reviving travel to J&K, Abdullah said, "The Pahalgam incident has shown that we need to be alert 24x7 to prevent such incidents from recurring. Our forces are fully alert."
    Asked about the delay in arresting the culprits behind the Pahalgam attack, the chief minister said that investigations take time and that there was no fixed timeline for such actions.
    "Arrests do not depend on any time frame. I am confident that one day the perpetrators of the attack will be apprehended," he asserted.
    "It is our responsibility to ensure that these culprits are not able to come near any populated area," he said.
    The chief minister maintained that the Armed forces, paramilitary forces and the state police were going full throttle to arrest the culprits.
    "I am confident that they will be apprehended," he said.
    He said the people of Jammu and Kashmir may not have political consensus, but they are unanimous that no innocent should lose their lives to violence.
    The April 22 attack in Pahalgam had sent shockwaves across the country and raised serious concerns over security in the region, especially in the lead-up to the Amarnath Yatra.
    However, Omar Abdullah struck an optimistic note about the recovery of the tourism sector, despite the setback.
    "Tourism has started reviving in Jammu and Kashmir. Maybe hotel rates are lower than they were before the Pahalgam attack, but people have surely started coming, including for the Amarnath Yatra," he said.
    Asked about the Supreme Court's Thursday's order permitting the poll panel to continue with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, he said that those who want to move the judiciary are welcome to do so.
    "But I am among those people who want elections to be held at any cost," he said.
    The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has triggered a major political controversy in Bihar, where assembly polls are due later this year, with the opposition INDIA bloc alleging that it was designed to "benefit the ruling NDA", a charge denied by the EC that is carrying out the massive exercise.
    Asked about the INDIA bloc and recent remarks by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Abdullah refrained from getting into personalities but suggested that the responsibility of keeping the opposition alliance united lies with the biggest player.
    "It is not about me or Mamata Banerjee, but the main responsibility is that of the biggest stakeholder to make it a success," he said, indirectly referring to the Congress.
    Reacting sharply to the BJP's repeated jibe that West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee was being turned into another Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah said such statements were misleading and ironic.
    He said that the saffron party had been saying before the elections in the northern state that it was like heaven and that its economy was changing.
    "They used to claim before elections that Kashmir was like heaven and its economy was changing. So, if they now equate Bengal and Kashmir, it’s fine," he said.
    "This is the first time in the history of the country that a state has been broken into Union Territories. We are seeking an early transition back to statehood," he added.
    He said the people of West Bengal have been an all-weather friend of Jammu and Kashmir.
    "Our tourism revival in the 1990's essentially started from two places - Gujarat and West Bengal," he said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)