Omar Abdullah govt holds special cabinet meet in Pahalgam

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday held a special cabinet meeting in Pahalgam tourist resort to convey a powerful message against terrorism and violence in the aftermath of the cowardly terror attack that claimed 26 lives on April 22. The choice of the station is to express solidarity with the residents of the tourist town, which has experienced a sharp decline in footfall since the terror attack on April 22. More important than the agenda on the table of the cabinet meeting is the significance of the meeting’s symbolic communication to anti-national and anti-social elements that violence has no place in Jammu and Kashmir. This is the first cabinet meeting being held outside the capital cities of Srinagar and Jammu since the Omar Abdullah-headed government took office in October 2024.

During his first stint as the chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir from 2009-14, Omar Abdullah had held cabinet meetings in remote areas like Gurez, Machil, Tangdhar of north Kashmir and Rajouri and Poonch areas of Jammu region. The decision to hold a special cabinet meeting comes two days after CM Omar Abdullah on Saturday proposed a dual approach to resuscitate the Jammu and Kashmir tourism sector, severely impacted by the Pahalgam terror attack, urging the Centre to mandate PSUs to hold meetings in Kashmir and to convene parliamentary committee meetings there. He made this appeal at the governing council meeting of the NITI Aayog under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sources indicate that the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues will also meet with tourism stakeholders in Pahalgam to gather suggestions on how to revive tourism in the Valley in the aftermath of the April 22 attack. Holding the cabinet meeting in Pahalgam is seen as a deliberate effort to send the message that there is no cause for concern and that Kashmir remains a safe destination for tourists.