Omar in Delhi for consultations; to meet PM, Chidambaram

NEW DELHI - Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah arrived in the capital Monday morning to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram and discuss with them the worsening situation in the Kashmir Valley.

Abdullah will meet Manmohan Singh at the prime minister’s 7 Race Course Road residence, sources said.

The chief minister will ask for help from the central government and more paramilitary forces to deploy in the valley to end the cycle of violence that has claimed over 30 lives since June 11, said the sources.

Abdullah will also meet Chidambaram to discuss the situation which the home minister said had “taken a serious turn”.

Chidambaram said in the Lok Sabha Monday that he would make a statement after discussions with Abdullah.

Abdullah arrived in the capital in the backdrop of 15 deaths, mostly in firing by security forces, in the Kashmir Valley in the last four days of violence.

Sunday was the bloodiest day in the valley in recent months. Frenzied mobs torched government offices, police camps and vehicles in south Kashmir areas after blocking the strategic Jammu-Srinagar highway by felling trees and erecting stone barricades.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) met for the second time in less than a month Sunday evening to assess the situation in Kashmir Valley.

The government, the sources said, wants the state government to get tough with trouble-makers who are inciting mobs to indulge in violence.

Abdullah is also likely to reiterate his demand for initiating an internal dialogue with all shades of opinion in the state.