Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Saturday questioned Pakistan’s offer of joining a “neutral and transparent” probe into the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed earlier this week.
“Initially, they did not accept that something had happened in Pahalgam,” Omar, who was speaking to reporters at Ramban, said. He was responding to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s statement that Pakistan was open to participating in any “neutral, transparent and credible investigation” in the matter. “Instead, they were the first to say that India had orchestrated it…Hard to say anything about those who were the one to first to put the blame on us”.
He refused to comment much on the statement, instead saying: “I regret the incident, which should not have happened”.
The CM was visiting Ramban, where a cloudburst on April 20 triggered flash floods and landslides that claimed three lives and led to the rescue and evacuation of over 500 people. About this visit, the chief minister, who chaired a review meeting of the operations in the area, said it was aimed at reassuring victims of the flash floods that they were not forgotten.
After the meeting, he announced that the government will provide five marlas land at a secure location for those who lost their land and houses to the disaster.
Over 600 houses and commercial buildings were damaged in flash floods and landslides, which also caused extensive damage to the 250-km strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway near Ramban. The CM had been camping at Ramban when the Pahalgam attackers struck on April 22.
In his first response to the attack Sharif, while giving a speech at the Pakistan military academy in Kakul in in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said: “The recent tragedy in Pahalgam is yet another example of this perpetual blame game which must come to a grinding halt. And now continuing with its role as a responsible country, Pakistan is open to participate in any neutral, transparent and credible investigation”.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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