India : Aug 14, 2019, 02:58 PM
Srinagar: Security has been stepped up in the Valley and movement further restricted ahead of Independence Day on Thursday, even as the government has claimed that restrictions imposed after the repeal of Article 370 would be a removed in a ‘phased manner’.There has been lockdown in J&K since the Centre revoked Article 370 that pertained to the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and decided to bifurcate it into two Union Territories.While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took the Governor up on his offer of a visit to the Valley, his party colleague P Chidambaram hit out at Satya Pal Malik for the invite to Rahul and called it a tool of propaganda.In a series of tweets early morning, the former finance minister said, “To say that Rahul Gandhi put conditions is rubbish. Rahul Gandhi asked for freedom to meet everyone, including soldiers. How is that putting conditions?” He was referring to a statement by Raj Bhavan which accused Rahul of putting too many conditions while ‘accepting’ Malik’s invite.Elsewhere, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi questioned the Congress’ intent behind ‘speaking in the tune of separatists’, as the party persistently attacked the govt’s decision of revoking Article 370 on J&K. “Can the party explain what their real objective is?” he said, accusing AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi of adding salt.On the verbal duel between Rahul and Malik, he said, “Who is stopping Rahul from visiting the Valley, but if you want to disrupt peace then how can that be allowed?”Rahul had urged Malik to allow an Opposition delegation the freedom to meet people and soldiers to which the Raj Bhawan accused him of trying to politicise the situation.“Rahul Gandhi is politicising the matter by seeking to bring a delegation of Opposition leaders to create further unrest and problems for the common people. As he has put forth many conditions for J&K, the Governor is referring the case to the local police and administration to examine the request further,” the statement said.