Srinagar, July 17: Barely two days after the Jammu and Kashmir government said it had established crisis management committees, akin to the existing Unified Command (UC), to tackle the situation in the Valley, the government Saturday said the committees had nothing to do with the present situation and the UC.
 An official spokesman Saturday said the Crisis Management Committees at State, Divisional and District levels have been constituted pursuant to the decision taken in a meeting of Chief Secretaries of all the states chaired by the Cabinet Secretary in 2009. 
 “All the states were instructed to review the Crisis Management plan with emphasis on holding regular mock drills to quickly respond to terrorist or hostage situations. The need to review the Crisis Management Committees was underscored for all the States of the country and this decision is not Jammu and Kashmir. These committees have not been constituted in the context of the present situation and Unified Headquarter headed by the Chief Minister is a separate entity and these committees have nothing to do with it,” he said, a day after the move evoked sharp criticism from political quarters who accused the government of ‘terrorizing people’ by setting up Unified Command at the district level.
 Pertinently, the state government had Thursday come up with a new Crisis Management Plan constituting state, divisional and district level ‘Crisis Management Committees’ to deal with the ongoing situation.
  While the state refuted having constituted Unified Command at the district level, political circles have questioned what had intelligence agencies to do with “mock drills” if committees were meant for that. 
Tarigami demands revocation:
 The CPI (M) has demanded that the government revoke this step.
 “What is the logic behind it. It is bound to send a wrong message and create further disillusionment among the people. The step is unwarranted and uncalled for. We demand its revocation,” state CPI(M) Secretary, M Y Tarigami, said in a statement.
 The state government had announced on July 15 formation of these committees comprising senior civil, army, police and intelligence officials to deal with various types of crisis in the state.
 Tarigami asked the government to “clarify” its stand on the issue and “explain unambiguously the need for such a step”.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 18 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST