We will have to make people aware about new criminal laws: Omar

New Delhi, Feb 18: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said that implementing three new criminal laws is not the mandate of the elected government in Jammu and Kashmir, but the dispensation led by will have to make efforts to create awareness among people about them.
Talking to reporters here after attending a meeting called by Home Minister Amit Shah to review the implementation of the new criminal laws, Omar said, “As far as the elected government is concerned, it is not our responsibility to implement these laws. Since these are new laws, people should be aware of them. For this, the elected government needs to do more,” he said.
He said they will have to make efforts to create awareness about these laws in colleges, universities or other places.
The CM added that J&K has done better in implementation but there are few weak areas which need to be fixed.
Omar said there was no discussion on J&K’s security situation during today’s meeting.
“I had discussed security matters relating to J&K during my recent meeting with HM (Amit Shah) on Parliament premises,” Omar said.
Omar expresses inability to comment on his exclusion from security reviews relating to the Union Territory.
“There is a difference between this meeting and those meetings. This meeting was about new laws and their implementation. If the decision has been made to exclude representatives elected by the people from security issues, what can we do? That is ok,” he said.
On the reaction of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner, Omar said, “The LoP has the right to dissent in the selection meeting. Opposition does not need to always agree with the government. The matter (relating to the constitution of the selection committee for picking the CEC and election commissioners) is sub-judice in the Supreme Court.” (KNO)