Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday said the situation in the Kashmir Valley is “very bad”.
Azad is on his maiden six-day tour of Jammu and Kashmir after the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5.
He said, “I do not have to say anything to media right now. I spent four days in Kashmir and arrived Jammu to two more days. After the end of the six-day tour, I will say whatever I have to say.”
Azad’s visit became possible after the Supreme Court on September 16 allowed him to visit Srinagar, Anantnag, Baramullah and Jammu districts to inquire about the welfare of the people in the Valley.
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Earlier his three bids to visit J&K had failed as he was sent back from the airport by the authorities.
Talking about his current visit, he said, “I was not even allowed by the administration to visit 10 per cent of the places where I had planned to go in the Valley during my stay there.”
Referring to the detention of the political leaders in the state, he further said, “There is no mark of freedom of speech in Jammu and Kashmir.”
Earlier in his petition in the top court, the Congress leader had also sought permission to check on the social atmosphere in J&K after the clampdown in the aftermath of the revocation of Article 370 and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories.
(With PTI inputs)