Centre shrugs off spying allegations of Omar Abdullah
After Omar Abdullah pushed charges against the Jammu & Kashmir government of spying on him, the Central Government has shrugged off any responsibility regarding the matter. Union Minister, Jitendra Singh ratified that it is "something between him and the state government". He further stated, "He (Omar) has blamed the state government and not the Centre. The Centre has nothing to do with it."
Omar Abdullah is an Indian politician belonging to one of the most prominent political families of J&K- the Abdullah family. He was also the Union Minister of State for External Affairs in Atal Vihari Vajpayee's NDA government from 2001-2002. He resigned from NDA in October 2002. He represents National Conference party of J&K and served as the youngest Chief Minister of J&K from 2009-2014.
Former J&K Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah accused the state government, now led by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, of spying on him when he was at Jammu to attend a press conference by the Press Club Jammu. Through a series of tweets, Omar Abdullah said that a journalist who had come to interview him was stopped outside his house by a CID (Central Investigation Department) official.
His first-tweet read, "Mufti Govt brazenly spying on me. A journalist interviewing me for a national daily just got stopped right outside my gate by CID person." He elaborated in the next tweet, "She was asked who she was & what the purpose of her visit was! Seriously guys if you want to know just ask me, I couldn't care less if U do."
Omar Abdullah directly accused Chief-Minister, Mufti Mohammed in his third tweet using bold words which read, "Dear Mufti Sb if you & your apparatchiks want to know what I'm up to pick up the phone & ask me. Please don't accost people outside my gate!"
The J&K government refuted spying-allegations by Omar Abdullah, saying that he was just trying to make an issue in order to seek attention. Deputy Chief-Minister, Nirmal Singh stated that the government was stable and Abdullah was not a threat to it, therefore spying allegations are nullified. Singh elaborated that it was normal to have security outside a politician's house and Abdullah was contradicting himself.
Dr Singh said, "He (Omar) is just trying to make an issue. There is security even outside my home. Other politicians too have security. If it was spying the officer would not have stopped the journalist in open. Spying is not done in that way. He (Omar) is contradicting himself."
Ruling-party of J&K, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not only rejected spying-allegations by Abdullah but also stated that it was not a cop but a disgruntled National Conference Worker who had interrogated the journalist outside Omar's house. PDP spokesperson, Waheedur Rehmaan Parra lashed out by placing counter-allegations against Omar stating that during his tenure, he used to spy on Mehbooba Mufti and other PDP leaders.
"We do not even spend a second about what he is doing. He has made this unfortunate statement as he only wants to make news .... He (Abdullah) tweets and that is what he did during his six years (as Chief Minister)," a furious Waheedur Parra said.
