Greater Kashmir
SYED AMJAD SHAH
Jammu, Dec 9: Following the recent controversary that forced army to seek apology from the state Chief Minister, army’s Northern Command hosted a dinner for Omar Abdullah at Udhampur, on Thursday evening.
Informed sources said that the chief minister Omar Abdullah was invited by the chief of Northern Command, Lieutenant General BS Jaiswal on dinner, this evening.
“Following directives from the union ministry, the chief of Northern army hosted the dinner for chief minister in the backdrop of `statement controversy’”, sources said. The Chief Minister, they claimed, reached Udhampur, by road, at around 7:30 p.m. He, however, returned late in the evening.
Both army and government officials, however, said that the dinner was a routine matter and there was “nothing special about it”. “Army had organised a function, where CM was invited as guest”, a senior government functionary said.
Pertinently, Jaiswal had apologised to Chief Minister for a press note criticising his government for removing bunkers.
An Army spokesperson from Udhampur command had issued a release criticising the state government for removal of bunkers and reduction of troops strength from Srinagar city.
The statement, issued on the day an encounter took place on the outskirts of Srinagar city in which three militants and a policeman were killed, claimed that the encounter had taken place only because of removing of bunkers by Omar government, which was 'compelled to give in' and that it could have 'pleased a few hardline separatists and their ISI handlers'.
However, Jaiswal had sought apology from the chief minister, while maintaining that “the views expressed were personal predilections of a junior officer”.
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