Seeking to put to rest speculations about a possible "major development" in Jammu & Kashmir, Governor Satya Pal Malik said on Tuesday that "everything is fine, everything is normal" and rejected as "invalid" Government orders that had generated panic in recent days.
A series of Government orders, including the one which spoke of prolonged law and order situation, had generated widespread speculation that the Centre was planning to abrogate Article 35-A of the Constitution, which provides exclusive rights to immoveable property and government jobs only to natives of Jammu & Kashmir.
Political parties in the state had reacted strongly to such a possibility, warning of dire consequences.
Dismissing the speculation, the Governor said, "Koi valid order nahi hai jo dikhayi diya gaya hai (There are no valid orders that are in circulation on social media)".
The Governor was replying to questions about the orders floating on social media regarding storage of ration due to a possible law and order situation in the wake of alteration in the special status of the State.
The replies from the Governor seek to put to rest a week's uncertainty that had been dogging the valley especially after Centre had rushed 100 companies (10,000 security personnel) to the State.
"Kashmir is a place where if someone sneezes in Lal Chowk, the same incident is projected as a bomb blast at Raj Bhavan," the Governor said.
The distance between Lal Chowk and Raj Bhavan is 10 kilometres.
"Many rumours float here on daily basis but please do not pay any heed to that. Everything is fine, everything is normal," he said on the sidelines of a function at SKICC where he was addressing principals of Navodaya Vidyalaya.
Kashmir has been on the edge for the past week after the Centre decided to send additional Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPFs) to the valley, giving rise to speculations that the BJP-led union government might repeal Article 35-A of the constitution. Out of these, 80 companies were pushed to the Valley while the remaining were sent to Jammu region.
