On prior occasions, Ghulam Nabi Azad was stopped at the airport and asked to return. On September 16, the Supreme Court allowed him to visit the Kashmir Valley.
Agencies
Srinagar, September 24:
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, on Tuesday, said that the situation in Kashmir Valley is ‘very bad’. Azad reached Srinagar as a part of the second leg of his six-day tour of the Valley. He was not allowed to reach the Valley the first time he tried to visit the state. On three occasions, he was stopped at the Srinagar airport and asked to return.
“I do not have to say anything to media right now. I spent four days in Kashmir and arrived here to spend two more days in Jammu. After the end of the six-day tour, I will say whatever I have to say,” he told reporters outside his residence.
Azad’s visit came through as the Supreme Court, on September 16, allowed him to visit the state. Responding to a question on whether he would be submitting a status report to the central government, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said that a decision regarding such a report will be taken after returning to Delhi.
“I was not even allowed by the administration to visit 10 per cent of the places where I had planned to go in the Valley during my stay there,” he further added.
“There is no mark of freedom of speech in Jammu and Kashmir,” Azad said in a comment on the detention of local leaders in the state. Meanwhile, a Congress leader told news agency PTI that Azad will hold meetings with party activists and will be interacting with a cross-section of people to assess the situation in the Valley during his visit.
On August 5, the central government abrogated Article 370 and revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
