Omar jumped gun on AFSPA, ordinary people paying price: PDP

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's recent announcement on limited withdrawal of the Disturbed Areas Act from Jammu and Kashmir has led to "utter confusion" and its price is being paid by ordinary civilians, People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti alleged.

She said things were made worse by the "usual lack of cohesion" between various components of the government, and "it seems that a debate is taking place only after the announcement was made".

"It appears that the chief minister had not done his home work before he rushed to make an announcement about the proposed withdrawal of AFSPA," she said.

Mufti said any move towards revocation of AFSPA should in normal course have brought relief to the people but instead the violence had "suddenly spurted".

"It seems in place of providing relief to people and introducing an element of relaxation the government has succeeded only in instilling fear in people," she alleged. Mufti also expressed sympathy with the victims of the recent terror attacks in the state and described them as "outright condemnable".