Best response is not to respond at all, says Omar Abdullah

It is summer in Srinagar and tourists are coming into Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) by the droves. They have touched half a million we hear already, and there are atleast two more months before this season comes to an end.

So does that mean that the torrid summer of 2010, which saw more than a 100 people die when security forces confronted stone pelting protestors, firmly in the past. Is the calm that we see and read about here to stay, and how has it been achieved? CNBC-TV18’s Beautiful People catches up with the man who has been entrusted with running of one of the most politically sensitive and complex states in India, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah. In the past three and a half years as a chief minister, he has seen more than his fair share of challenges. Below is an edited transcript of his interview with Anuradha SenGupta. SenGupta: Fantastic tourist numbers, isn’t it? Abdullah: It is reassuring, but it is not something that we talk about very much. This is for the simple reason that in the past we have made the mistake of correlating tourism arrivals with normalcy as a result of which we automatically make tourists into targets for those people who want to convey that things are not normal in Jammu & Kashmir. Therefore, in a calculated manner, we have made sure that people understand that tourism is essentially an economic activity and not a barometer of normalcy. SenGupta: I haven’t heard you react to what the Jamaat-e-Islami put out last week about the fact that tourists should dress with certain decorum and almost like an advisory. Abdullah: The reason why we chose not to say anything is because we wanted to see how it is played out. No sooner had the statement been issued, the Jammat-e-Islami then came forward with its own clarification that I think put the matter to rest. SenGupta: I quickly went down to Twitter to check if you said something. Abdullah: Sometimes the best response is to not respond at all, which I think in this case was the best thing to do because it is a matter that sorted itself out. I dare say if I had got into some sort of a verbal dual with the Jamaat-e-Islami perhaps it wouldn’t have had the conclusion that it did. SenGupta: In fact that statement issued by the Jamaat-e-Islami made it to the front pages of some newspapers in Mumbai for instance, and when you read it you realize that is it as big as it seems to be because of the positioning? Abdullah: It is bigger outside the state. It definitely was a bigger issue on the front pages of newspapers that look for bad news to come out of Jammu & Kashmir. I doubt very much whether the retraction or the clarification issued by the Jamaat-e-Islami will receive quite the play on those very same newspapers, which is part of what sort of gets my goat with regards to the state. You are very happy to put these sort of stories that show us in bad light on a box on the front page, but the moment there is some sort of clarification or something gets cleared up or it is not as bad as it is made out to be, then it disappears. Case in point being the recent tragedy we had with the burning of the shrine. Nobody bothered to put it into perspective. Yes, you had the stray incidents of stone pelting in a handful of police stations in downtown Srinagar, but thanks to some TV channels, you got the impression that the entire valley was either up in flames or damn near close to it. These sorts of things are dangerous, they cause us a huge setback.