PM must follow up steps to bring down tension in Valley: Omar

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said any initiative that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may take to resolve the current crisis in the Valley could calm tempers but if it is not followed up then it becomes difficult to sort out.
He agreed with former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's views that the centre had broken promises on issues that formed the state's accession to India, saying they have been "dishonest with the people of Jammu and Kashmir".
"It will help. It will definitely calm tempers but there will be far more suspicion today than a few years ago. Because if it is not followed through, every time a problem like this arises, then it becomes more difficult to bring an end to it," he told Karan Thapar on India Today TV.

He alleged that several projects launched during his
tenure as the Chief Minister were either abandoned or put on the back-burner by the present dispensation.
Had the power projects like Ratle, Keeru, Kwar, Kalnai, Pakaldule, Sawlakote been allowed to come up, these would have not only changed the economic scenario of the Chenab Valley region but the entire state as well, Abdullah said.

The "failure" of the PDP-BJP alliance to fulfill its promises had led to a "political deficit" that has been one of the contributing factors to chaos, turmoil and uncertainty, he claimed.
Cautioning people about the "divisive politics" that has penetrated into the socio-political fabric of the "pluralistic" state, Abdullah appealed to people to isolate such elements by maintaining time-tested unity, amity and tranquillity.

The PDP-BJP combine "has reaped the dividends of polarisation and divisiveness" and therefore "they would continue to promote" such a drift for furthering their political agenda, the NC working president alleged.
"In such a situation, National Conference has an added responsibility to keep the flag of inclusiveness aloft," he said.