‘Why Omar’s residence for delegation?’

JAMMU - Eyebrows have been raised in political circles here over the Jammu and Kashmir government’s choice of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s residence as a venue for the visiting all-party delegation to meet political parties and groups.

Unlike Srinagar, where the delegation led by union Home Minister P. Chidambaram met various groups at a neutral venue, Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Complex, the delegation here met the groups at the chief minister’s residence.

“It appears to be a politically motivated decision,” said Subhash Gupta, an activist of the People’s Democratic Party here.

This was also the view of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which wondered why the chief minister’s residence had been chosen as a venue for such crucial meetings. “There is a state guest house where the delegation could have met the people or, like the past, it could have met at Raj Bhavan,” said Satish Sharma, a BJP leader.

Official sources disclosed to IANS that the venue was changed late Monday night after “directions from above” - from Hotel Ashok to the chief minister’s residence.

The all-party delegation is visiting the state to meet with a cross-section of people following the spiral of violence gripping Kashmir Valley since June 11 that has seen 103 people killed in firing by security forces on protesters.