Srinagar: With militants present in the area he was visiting, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah gave some anxious moments to his security personnel when he decided to break the cordon thrown around him and mix with people in Tral area in South Kashmir`s Pulwama district. Sticking to his decision to carry on with his visit as scheduled yesterday despite opposition from security agencies in view of firing by terrorists at a police bunker on Wednesday, Omar visited the area and addressed a gathering during which he spoke about the dangers of militancy.
At the rally in the area, which is being represented by opposition PDP MLA Mushtaq Ahmed Shah, people requested the Chief Minister to listen to their grievances.
Known for mixing with crowd and carrying out surprise checks at various government institutions, 43-year-old Omar walked into the middle of the gathering at the rally after breaking his own security cordon.
The visibly surprised people swarmed Omar as some elderly people held his hand and planted kisses. Some youths requested for more job opportunities while another section spoke to him on the uneasy Indo-Pak relations. Omar spent considerable time hearing to the public patiently and turned a deaf ear to security personnel who were getting restless and wanted the Chief Minister to step into the area sanitised by them earlier.
"My job is to listen to people and I can`t allow security to be an impediment in this work. After all addressing grievances of people is my job," Omar told.
Omar decided to drive through to Tral rather than using helicopter to visit the area which has been a hotbed of militancy over the past 23 years.
Being at the foothills, the area is generally used by terrorists to slip into South Kashmir after infiltrating through North Kashmir.