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I'm not New Delhi's puppet, says Omar

SRINAGAR: Embattled Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday came down heavily on the Centre, blaming it for the present crisis in the Valley and for undermining his authority by issuing directives without consulting him. ''We're not New Delhi's puppets. We're here for the people and by the people,'' he said, while taking exception to Union home secretary G K Pillai's announcements on imposition and lifting of curfew from the Valley. ''It's for me, the state DGP or the chief secretary to take such decisions. The officers on the ground decide these things when they deem it fit to impose or lift curfew from any area,'' the CM said. He clarified that he was working in tandem with New Delhi to restore peace. The beleaguered CM expressed his displeasure over New Delhi's directive last month on opening schools and colleges in the Valley and its inclusion in the Centre's eight-point formula to defuse tensions. ''I was consulted on seven out of eight points,'' he said. He said he wouldn't have allowed the directive on schools as it's a state subject. CPM leader Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami had also criticised the Centre's directive, calling it an interference in the state's affairs on Tuesday. The CM, who has taken a lot of flak for misgovernance and frittering away the extraordinary mandate after 2008 elections, hit back saying the present unrest wasn't about his governance, but New Delhi's inability to solve the Kashmir issue. ''People raise slogans like Go India go back and don't ask for my removal. Otherwise, they would have burnt my effigies and that of my ministers,'' he said, while replying to a debate in the state assembly. Omar said it's a bigger problem between two countries, which triggered the unrest. The CM underlined the need to acknowledge Kashmir as a problem. ''The Kashmir issue will remain even if we give people bijli, sadak and pani. It's not only me, even successive central governments have recognised Kashmir as a problem,'' he said, and stressed the need for resolving the issue. ''Let us not keep it on the back burner,'' he said, and called for the resumption of track II dialogue between India and Pakistan and New Delhi and Srinagar. Omar criticised people, who stress that Kashmir is India's integral part. ''Why are you screaming that Kashmir is an integral part of India when you don't say that Tamil Nadu and Manipur are also integral parts of India?'' Omar asked. He said he appreciates home minister P Chidambaram's statement that Jammu & Kashmir joined India in unique circumstances and needs a unique solution. ''We're not talking of a separate state when we talk about greater autonomy. Asking for greater autonomy is well within the constitution,'' said Omar. The CM assailed the separatists for fomenting trouble and issuing protest calendars. ''They've been instigating youth to stone school buses, setting infrastructure afire, which ultimately leads to the use of force,'' he said.

                                                                                                               
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