The NC leader is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Baramulla, where voting is underway.
\u201dWe have been saying that the situation (in Kashmir) is not normal. The militants have proved repeatedly that they can attack whenever they want to. Unfortunately, a politician, an ex-sarpanch of the BJP, lost his life and two tourists were injured (in terrorist attacks),\u201d the NC leader said, referring to Saturday\u2019s twin attacks in Shopian and Anantnag.
\u201dI appeal to the government to talk less about normalcy because the situation is not normal and also talk less about tourism being an indicator of normalcy because when they link normalcy with tourism, they put tourists in danger,\u201d he said.
Terrorists struck at two places in Kashmir on Saturday night, killing former sarpanch Aijaz Sheikh in Shopian\u2019s Hirpora and injuring a tourist couple, Farha and her husband Tabrez, from Rajasthan in Anantnag.
Abdullah said tourists came to the Valley even during his tenure as the chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir from 2009-14 \u201dbut we never said that lakhs of tourists came here and so everything is normal\u201d.
\u201dBy doing that, you are making the tourists a target. Our effort should be that they come here, enjoy their vacation and leave safely,\u201d he said.
On the BJP\u2019s claims that the law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir has improved, Abdullah said the party should not make such claims and the credit for the little improvement should go to the people here.
\u201dThey (people) did not take law into their own hands (even) when the government left no stone unturned to harass them,\u201d he said.
On the polling, Abdullah said reports from many areas of the Baramulla constituency are very good.
\u201dPeople are voting in huge numbers and that is what we expect from them. As a politician, I want more and more people to cast their votes, and as a candidate, I hope they vote for the NC and me in large numbers. We will get to know the decision of the people on June 4,\u201d he said.
Besides Abdullah, 20 candidates are in the fray from Baramulla.
Abdullah faces the biggest challenge from separatist-turned-politician and former minister Sajad Lone, who heads the People\u2019s Conference. The blazing campaign trail witnessed the rivals going full throttle against each other.
As many as 17.37 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The NC leader is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Baramulla, where voting is underway.\u201dWe have been saying that the situation (in Kashmir) is not normal. The militants have proved repeatedly that they can attack whenever they want to. Unfortunately, a politician, an ex-sarpanch of the BJP, lost his life and two tourists were injured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,33],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jammu-7-kashmir","8":"category-srinagar"},"yoast_head":"\n