SRINAGAR: A day after BJP president Amit Shah criticised him for ignoring people affected by Pakistani firing, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah blamed the central Government for the mess and asked "why didn’t the Central Ministers visit the (India-Pakistan) border during their visit to the state".

"If no care has been taken, the Centre is to be blamed. Recently, five Central ministers visited the state - they visited Kashmir, Ladakh and perhaps even Jammu city. If they did not visit the border, then who is to blame? I cannot drag them there," Abdullah told reporters in Srinagar.

The Indo-Pak border has been seeing continuous aggression and ceasefire violations from the Pakistan side and resulted in loss of human lives in Jammu division.

BJP president Amit Shah had earlier attacked the Chief Minister at a rally in Jammu region saying "I want to ask the Chief Minister have you yourself visited them (residents displaced by Pak firing) - if not, I want to ask you do not you feel you have a responsibility towards them."

The state government had sent the Minister of State for Home Sajjad Kichloo to the affected areas to take stock of the situation and organise relief.

"We visited the affected areas extensively, interacted with the people, ascertained their difficulties and oversaw arrangements and help being provided to them by the state government," Kichloo said.

He said the Chief Minister was continuously monitoring the situation and receiving minute-to-minute updates.

Rising Kashmir adds: Continuing with its anti-Pakistan diatribe, Bharatiya Janata Party Tuesday called for “eye for an eye” policy against the neighbouring country on the border.

Addressing the Legislative Assembly, senior BJP leader Chaman Lal Gupta said India should adopt an “eye for an eye policy” in dealing with Pakistan.

“It is true that talks and discussion are a better way to solve issues. But they don’t even acknowledge the Lahore agreement we had long back. Having talks with Pakistan is not a worthy option,” Gupta said.

Backing the BJP’s stance, the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party, Balwant Singh Mankotia also said India should give an effective response to Pakistan.

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decisions, state BJP leader and MLA Jammu East Ashok Khajuria said: “The way our PM (Modi) is working, he will definitely teach them a lesson. There is no doubt that we need to get more alert on our borders.”

Demanding the state government’s attention towards the damage that recent shelling on the border had caused, the members of legislative assembly also raised the concerns about the plight of families living there.

“Due to the shelling, families living closer to border have taken refuge in government schools and community centres. Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand did play a role by visiting the affected families but talks are important. Both the countries should come on the dialogue table to attain peace in the region,” said NC MLA, Surjeet Singh Slathia.

Besides, Deputy Speaker Sartaj Madni called for a common resolution passed in the House to demand a ceasefire between the two countries. “Why shouldn’t this House pass a common resolution and ask both the countries to stop shelling on both the sides,” he said.

While some members demanded a decent compensation for the victims at the border, MLA from Ramnagar and National Panthers Party (NPP) leader Harsh Dev said the government was unaware of the damage and situation caused by the shelling.

“The shelling had made their (people’s) life miserable leading to not only loss of life but property, cattle and peace too. The firing on the border is unprovoked. When UPA was in power, BJP use to criticise them for not being capable of doing anything but what is it doing at the Centre now,” he said.

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