‘No stick waving…’: Omar Abdullah’s first order to Jammu and Kashmir police

Hours after being sworn in as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah directed the union territory’s police to minimise “public inconvenience” during VIP movements. In his first direction to the police, he said they should avoid “stick-waving” and “aggressive gestures” when he moves by road.

Omar Abdullah also asked the Jammu and Kashmir police to refrain from creating a green corridor for his movement.

“I have spoken to the DG, Jammu and Kashmir police, that there is to be no ‘green corridor’ or traffic stoppage when I move anywhere by road. I have instructed him to minimise public inconvenience & the use of sirens is to be minimal. The use of any stick waving or aggressive gestures is to be totally avoided. I’m asking my cabinet colleagues to follow the same example. In everything our conduct must be people-friendly. We are here to serve the people & not to inconvenience them,” Abdullah wrote on X.

Omar Abdullah was today sworn in as the CM of the union territory. Prime Minister Narendra Modi later extended wishes to the National Conference vice president.

He said the Centre will work closely with him for Kashmir’s progress.

“Congratulations to Omar Abdullah Ji on taking oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Wishing him the very best in his efforts to serve the people. The Centre will work closely with him and his team for J-K’s progress,” the Prime Minister said.

L-G Manoj Saxena administered the oath of office to Abdullah and his council of ministers at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar.

Before the oath-taking ceremony, Omar said that he looked forward to working in cooperation with the Union government.

“I have some strange distinctions. I was the last chief minister to serve a full six-year term. Now I’ll be the first chief minister of the Union territory of J-K. The last distinction, as in the one of serving six years, I’m quite happy about. Being a CM of a Union Territory is a different matter altogether. It has its challenges. I hope that the status of a union territory is a temporary one. We look forward to working in cooperation with the government of India to resolve the people’s problems and the best way to do that would be to start by restoring statehood to J-K,” Omar Abdullah said.

National Conference MLA from Mendhar Javed Ahmed Rana, Javid Ahmad Dar from Rafiabad, Sakina Itoo from DH Pora and Surinder Kumar Chowdhary were administered oath by LG Sinha as ministers in Abdullah’s Cabinet.

Omar Abdullah’s party National Conference won 42 seats in the recent assembly elections.