By IANS,
Jammu : The BJP here Monday accused Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of appeasing separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who has opposed construction of a road to facilitate pilgrims to the Amarnath cave shrine.
“The chief minister has set a dangerous precedence… by being answerable to Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s diktats and going to the extent of placing state helicopters at his disposal to conduct aerial inspection of Amarnath track to satisfy his personal whims and fundamentalist views on the issue,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jitendra Singh said here.
Abdullah challenged Geelani Saturday to take a helicopter ride to confirm whether a concrete road was being laid to the cave shrine.
Geelani Friday threatened a mass agitation against the alleged construction of a metalled road in the north Kashmir forests in Baltal for the passage of pilgrims during the annual Amarnath Yatra.
Singh said that having been sworn under the oath of constitution, a minister or a chief minister is expected to act as custodian of constitution.
“To that extent, it would have been more appropriate if the chief minister had declared that his government would abide by the directives and guidelines of the Supreme Court and make improvements in the Amarnath Yatra facilities accordingly,” he added.
The BJP leader also questioned the scientific basis of opposing the construction of permanent track en route Amarnath and argued that if felling of thousands of trees during construction of roads and tourism projects did not interfere with environment or ecology, how would construction of a track along Amarnath do it.
The Supreme Court had issued directions to build required infrastructure on the Amarnath Yatra route after taking cognizance of 100 deaths during the pilgrimage to the shrine this year.