New Delhi, Aug 2: The Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said political initia¬tives were required to deal with the situation in the Kashmir valley but made it clear there should be some semblance of normalcy first.
After a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidamba¬ram, Omar also sent a tough message to protestors indulging in the cycle of violence warn¬ing that consequences would be “tragic and serious” if curfew regulations were violated.
Omar arrived here this afternoon and went straight for a meeting with Dr Singh to review the situation in the state. Any political initia¬tive should also look into the AFSPA issue, Omar said.
To a question on the cur¬rent violence, the Chief Min¬ister said there may not be any one particular group or individual in a position to both manage, orchestrate and direct all this. “Today I don’t believe that there is any one particu¬lar group or individual that can really direct what is happening in the valley,” he added.
“There are number of elements fishing in troubled waters. There are widespread protests covering a number of area but for to suggest that any one particular individual or any one particular organization is in a position to both manage, orchestrate and direct all this will be incorrect,” he said.
Pained Congress president Sonia Gandhi also voiced con¬cern at the fresh violence and said there were elements with “ulterior motives” that were instigating the attacks. She wanted these elements to be identified and brought to book.
Omar said Jammu and Kashmir is a political situation which needs political handling. “It requires a political package more than an economic pack¬age,” he told newsmen after wrapping up his meetings before returning to Srinagar.
He also said curfew would be implemented strictly and sought additional paramili¬tary forces especially the Rapid Action Force to deal with street protesters. “Jammu and Kash¬mir is a political situation. It needs political handling. It requires a political package more than an economic pack¬age. By political package, I mean dealing with issues like Armed Forces Special Powers Act, footprint of the security forces, rehabilitation package for youngsters who are across  the Line of Control and compensation for victims of the ongoing trouble.
“We discussed at length the situation prevailing in the valley and the need for such steps to be taken build¬ing consensus was that the pre-requisite for any sort of initiatives in the state was some semblance of normal¬cy,” the Chief Minister said.
Official sources said the Centre was willing to kick start political initiatives in JK including talks with separatists but wanted violence to end first.
The sources said that the Centre has ruled out any change in the leadership in the state and promised all assistance to the Chief Minister.
Omar said Chidambaram has assured him help with regard to additional forces but made it clear that he (Chief Minister) wanted to keep the fatalities to the minimum. He acknowledged that the forces were stretched in the state.
He also said that restraint will have to be from both sides and it cannot be one sided. “The security forces have, given the scale of the protests and the way it has been managed, been as restrained as possible for them to be. In a much shorter time space with a lesser inten¬sity of protests, you had much higher causalities than in 2008,” Omar said.
Today’s meetings comes a day after the CCS con¬vened by Singh met to discuss the political and admin¬istrative steps needed to be taken to defuse the situation in the Valley.
Omar also said “Curfews were announced and it will have to be implemented strictly. There will be no other way around this.
Consequences are serious and tragic. The growing unrest in Kashmir valley also echoed in the Lok Sabha with opposition BJP demanding that a Parliamentary Party delegation visit the region.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 2 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 2 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 3 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST