Chief minister Omar Abdullah has once again failed to secure a place at the high table at a meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah on Jammu
and Kashmir’s security despite his strong push for inclusion recently.

Shah arrived in Jammu on Thursday evening for a two-day visit to the region, his first after Operation Sindoor, for a review meeting on the upcoming Amarnath Yatra, the larger security situation since the April 22 carnage, and to reach out to victims of Pakistani shelling.

The visit comes against the backdrop of a strong pitch by Omar for a say in security-related issues during his back-to-back meetings with his cabinet and the bureaucracy in Pahalgam and Gulmarg this week.

One of his major concerns is his inability to reopen dozens of tourist destinations that were shut by the administration of lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha following the Pahalgam attack. Sources close to Omar said the closure defeats the purpose of reopening Kashmir for tourism as most places remain out of bounds for visitors.

On Thursday evening, the home minister chaired a meeting on the Amarnath pilgrimage with LG Sinha and the security brass. Pictures released by Shah on his social media handle show that Omar was not present.

The chief minister’s social media handles offered no updates on whether he had any engagement with Shah. In a post on Thursday evening, Omar iterated his call that tourism should be a conflict-neutral activity, an apparent rebuff to efforts allegedly seeking to politicise it.

“Time and again, tourism of Jammu and Kashmir gets entangled in politics. All should see tourism as an economic activity more than anything else,” he said in a post on X.

After his meeting on Amarnath, Shah said he evaluated the security arrangements and preparedness for the pilgrims. “Instructed to maintain the utmost vigilance and ensure the seamless completion of the sacred journey. Central govt and J&K administration will leave no stone unturned to facilitate the pilgrims with all necessary facilities,” Shah posted on X.

The 38-day Yatra begins on July 3. It remains the foremost security concern for the administration, particularly because the militants involved in the Pahalgam mayhem remain elusive. Thousands of security forces are being deployed to ensure an incident-free Yatra.

On Wednesday, Omar said there was a need for Jammu and Kashmir’s elected government, led by him, the “unelected government” headed by the LG and the central government to work together to ensure what happened on April 22 does not happen again, clearly seeking a role
in security.

More than six months in office, Omar has never been consulted by the LG’s administration on security matters. The only exception was on May 13, when Northern Command chief Lt General Pratik Sharma visited his home to brief him on security.

Shah on Friday visited Poonch, which suffered extensive damage in Pakistani shelling. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development programme for Jammu and Kashmir started in 2014 and it will not stop or slow down despite recent provocations.