india

Updated: Feb 23, 2019 23:48 IST

Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik has said that there is no need to panic over the movement of troops as it was done as part of a poll exercise, and dismissed apprehensions of war and others as rumours.

Panic had spread in Kashmir valley following news about movement of troops, a crackdown on separatist groups and due to fighter jets and helicopters hovering over Srinagar.

Rumours started swirling about the possibilities of a war with Pakistan following the February 14 Pulwama suicide car bombing that killed 40 CRPF troopers, and about upcoming Lok Sabha elections. It was also conjectured that it was related to petitions challenging Article 35A of the constitution due to begin in the Supreme Court. The article grants special privileges to permanent residents of J&K.

People had started stocking on essentials like rations and medicines even as top officials were tight-lipped about what was happening and ignored the speculation doing the rounds.

However, governor Malik told HT that in Kashmir, “rumours become news”.

“There is no need to panic. A six member team of election commission of India is coming to Kashmir and we need to discuss these security parameters with them and we want to hold timely elections and want to show the team that we are capable of holding elections on time,” Malik said.

Malik said that nothing big is going to happen in the state. “The Article 35A case is in court and how can the government do anything to that? These are only rumours and people shouldn’t panic.”