Cancellation of PM's Pak tour hurts people: Omar

Srinagar, June 24 : Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) president Omar Abdullah today said the cancellation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Pakistan and Tajikistan has hurt the people of the state.

Addressing a public meeting at Tangmarg in north Kashmir today he said people had attached lot of expectations with Dr Singh's visit to Pakistan.

''The cancellation of the visit has hurt their expectations,'' he said.

He expressed surprise that India and Pakistan had so far failed to resolve the issues of Siachen, Baglihar and Wullar Barrage which were ''not so big.'' They failed to address such smaller issues when will the main Kashmir issue come up for resolution, he asked.

He said for the resolution of the Kashmir issue, India and Pakistan need to take some ''serious and concrete steps.'' The situation in the Kashmir valley has worsened during the four year coalition rule in the state, Mr Abdullah charged.

Now the question of infiltration from across the border is there, he said adding everybody must contribute to restore peace in the state where people are living under the shadow of gun for the past 17 years.

He said the centre has provided crores of rupees for development to the state government. But, he said, nothing has changed on the ground and there is no visile development.

UNI