Omar tells ministers to check protests

Jammu  :  Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has told his ministers to move around in their constituencies to check protests and explain to the people that the state government had no role in Afzal Guru’s execution, sources said Monday.

Some of the ministers and legislators of the ruling National Conference flew by the state aircraft Monday and others will be reaching Srinagar Tuesday, sources said.

“We have been told to be there (in Srinagar) to move around in our respective areas to check protests and explain the government’s position vis-a-vis the hanging of Afzal Guru,” a minister told IANS on condition of anonymity.

“The purpose seems to be to avert the recurrence of the 2010 type protests by the people and reaction by the law enforcing agencies in which 120 men and women, mostly youngsters, were killed,” the minister explained.

Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri convicted in the 2001 parliament attack, was hanged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail Saturday.