Former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah came downheavily on the state administration faulting it for issuing orders askingAmarnath pilgrims ‘to curtail their stay in the Valley immediately’ citingterror threats. “Seriously? You think an official order telling tourists toleave immediately will not cause them to run from the valley as fast as theycan? Which tourist will hang around after seeing this order. The airport &highway will be choked with people leaving,” Abdullah tweeted.

The government order comes amid intense speculation inKashmir that the Centre was planning a ‘big’ move that many thought would bethe scrapping of Art 35A, that give special privileges to permanent residentsof the state. Sending of nearly 10,000 troops to the Valley last week onlyadded to the buzz.

The state government’s order came within hours of a jointpress after where top army and police officers spoke about intelligence inputsthat terrorists in the state had been ordered to carry out bomb blaststargeting the ongoing Amarnath yatra.

“Although this unprecedented order would seem to suggest agenuine fear of a massive terror strike directed at Amarnath ji yatris or/andtourists this will do nothing to dampen the sense of fear & foreboding thatprevails in the valley at the momen,” Abdullah second in another tweet.

Abdulla and other members of his party National Conference(NC) had called on PM Modi in Delhi on Friday urging him that no precipitoussteps of any sort should be taken that may result in situation in the state,particularly the valley, worsening. “We specifically asked him to let subjudicematters be settled by the courts & other matters be settled by an electedgovernment,” Omar Abdullah said later.

The NC leader has also reached out to other parties in thesate, including PDP led by Mehbooba Mufti, seeking to discuss the situation.