Law and order in insurgency-hit J&K similar to any other province: Governor

SRINAGAR, JAN 07 :  Governor Satya Pal Malik on Monday said normalcy has returned to the Valley. The law and order in the insurgency-hit state, claims Malik, is similar to any other province in the nation.

Comparing Kashmir with Bihar, Malik claimed that more crimes are recorded in the Hindi heartland state, than in the Valley. Giving an insight, the Governor said that more murders are witnessed in Patna each day, as against the total casualties recorded in the Valley each week.

“Jammu & Kashmir is just like others, there’s no massacre going on at this time. The number of murders witnessed in Patna in a single day is equal to deaths in Kashmir in a week. Stone pelting and recruitment to terrorist groups has stopped,” Malik said at a public event.

Malik, who heads the State Administrative Council, took over the reigns of Jammu & Kashmir from his predecessor NN Vohra in August this year.

The Governor drew immense flak in November last year, when he dissolved the Assembly after being appealed by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and People’s Conference president Sajjad Lone to provide an opportunity to stake claim for government formation.

Malik, however, defended his action claiming that it would had subverted democracy, and let to blatant “horse-trading”.

In a recent public event, Malik claimed that the situation in Kashmir has improved drastically since he took over as the Governor. The spree of counter-insurgency operations, he said, were aimed at bringing normalcy in J&K at par with other states. Malik also claimed to have ordered the security personnel to not “harass” the family members of militants.