Caravan News
JAMMU — Senior Congress leader and the leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is on a tour of six days of Jammu and Kashmir, said in Jammu on Tuesday that situation in the Valley is “very bad”.
Mr Azad is on his maiden visit to the state after the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5. His three earlier bids to reach Srinagar had failed as he had been turned back from the airport by the authorities.
“It is very bad,” was the reaction of the Congress leader when asked by media people as to what was his assessment of the situation in Kashmir.
“I do not have to say anything to media right now. I spent four days in Kashmir and arrived here to spend two more days in Jammu. After the end of the six-day tour, I will say whatever I have to say,” he told reporters outside his residence here, reports PTI.
When asked about submitting his assessment report of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir to the Supreme Court, the former state chief minister said a decision on this would be taken after his return to Delhi.
“I was not even allowed by the administration to visit 10 per cent of the places where I had planned to go in the valley during my stay there,” he said.
Mr Azad’s visit became possible only after the Supreme Court on September 16 allowed him to tour the state.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, had allowed the Congress leader to visit four districts — Srinagar, Jammu, Baramulla, Anantnag — to meet people.
In his petition filed in his “personal capacity”, Mr Azad had told the Supreme Court that he had tried to visit the state thrice, but was turned back from the airport.
Mr Azad, when asked about detention of political leaders and curbs on political activities, said, “There is no mark of freedom of speech in Jammu and Kashmir.”
(With inputs from PTI)
