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Onkar Singh in New Delhi
Even as militants continue to carry out attacks in Jammu & Kashmir and kill people with impunity, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah left for London on a one-and-a-half month vacation.
A state government source said Dr Abdullah left for London last week to visit his family, but has been keeping a tab on developments in the Valley.
J&K Chief Secretary Ashok Jaitly is in regular touch with the chief minister. "In today's age of state-of-the-art telecommunication, it is possible to control the state from wherever you are. After all, the chief minister is also entitled to a holiday and to be with his family," the source remarked.
Dr Abdullah has entrusted work to some Cabinet colleagues and asked senior minister Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah to officiate as head of the government. Shah is one of Dr Abdullah's relatives.
Top Bharatiya Janata Party officials refused to comment on the chief minister's absence at a juncture, when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee plans to meet Pakistan Chief Executive Pervez Musharraf to discuss Kashmir.
"If he has gone abroad, he must have sought the prime minister and home [L K Advani] minister's permission," senior BJP leader J P Mathur said.
Abdul Majid Bandhay, spokesman for the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, told rediff.com that the chief minister's absence from the state is no serious matter. "This is not the first time he has been away at a time like this," he remarked. "He is known for enjoying life and that's what he is doing."
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