Srinagar, July 1: Day after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram instructed the state government to establish contact with people for restoration of peace in the Valley, a Group of Ministers (GoM) deputed by the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to curfew-bound Sopur, met officials of state administration and ‘public’ inside an Army camp Thursday, four kilometers away from the town.
The GoM comprising Minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control Taj Mohi-ud-Din, Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister of State for R&B Javid Ahmad Dar and MLA Sopur Muhammad Ashraf Ganai were scheduled to ‘meet public’ at Dak Banglow Sopur sources told Greater Kashmir.
They said entire programme was changed at the last moment by the district administration fearing that presence of ministers would trigger demonstrations in the town.
The ministers after landing at an Army camp in Mazbugh-Jageer area had to confine their meeting to the officials of the administration at the local RR camp and stayed there only for 15-20 minutes, the sources said.
The venue of the meeting doesn’t even fall in Sopur constituency. The ministers were briefed by Special Commissioner North Kashmir, Muhammad Sayed Khan and Special IGP North, Pankaj Saxena, about the prevailing law and order situation in the town.
Sources said that Army served the ministers with tea and snacks at the camp.
Taj Mohi-ud-Din said, “We had no plans to meet public in Sopur as officials from the administration had already met them in the morning. We had only called IGP and Special Commissioner at the helipad of Army and they reported to us their feedback given by public. I don’t know whether it is Army camp or not.”

Lastupdate on : Thu, 1 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 1 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
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