Srinagar: The separatist amalgam led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Sunday dared Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah to lift the siege around Geelani’s house and allow him to visit Amarnath Shrine along with people. Geelani also claimed that they have e-mailed photographs of the construction material dumped in Yatra area to CM.
“By the helicopter offer, he is trying to divert the attention of public from real issue. Although helicopter is not a personnel asset of Chief Minister, it is an asset of people but helicopter ride will not solve any issue. Let Omer Abdullah lift siege around Geelani’s house. He will visit on his own along with people and present the facts before public,” Ayaz Akbar, spokesperson of the separatist amalgam said.
Yesterday the Chief Minister had said “we have two choppers, let him (Geelani) choose a day and go wherever he wants around the Amarnath shrine. Then let him prove that a single meter of road length has been macadamized or any step has been taken that is harmful to environment.”
Akbar said that ‘Omar is fooling people by making irrelevant statements and diverting attention from the main issue’, “Omar is only worried about his chair and he is worried that if agitation like year 2008 and 2010 starts, his chair will be danger”, it added
The spokesman said that a team sent by the amalgam to survey the area had brought concrete evidence of building material that had been dumped in the area.
He also said that Geelani has never claimed that the ‘road was or being constructed in the area, but “ in the backdrop of concrete evidence, we have no qualms in saying that nefarious plan designed by New Delhi vis-a-vis Yatra would cost irreparable damage to the forests, wildlife and environment of the Valley.”
Continuing attacks on Omar, separatist amalgam said ‘Omar did not utter a single word over our demanding of handing management of Yatra to Kashmiri Pandits’.
“Nor he commented on managing the flow of Yatra on the pattern of visit to Gangotri ,” he added.
Zahid Maqbool is a freelance journalist based in Srinagar.
