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Kashmir bureaucrats meet Omar over slapping incident

April 20, 2013 22:55 IST

A delegation of the Kashmir Administrative Service Officers Association called on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday and conveyed its anguish over reports about Minister of State for Home Sajad Ahmad Kitchloo slapping an officer of their fraternity in the mountainous Kishtwar district earlier this week.

The delegation, according to a statement, sought the intervention of the chief minister ‘in restoring the morale of the officers by taking immediate action and also for taking steps to curb recurrence of such incidents in the future’.

“The chief minister said that he has already taken notice of the unfortunate incident and has conveyed his displeasure to the minister,” the statement said.

Abdullah described the incident as “unbecoming on the part of a public representative” and expressed confidence that the issue shall be resolved soon, according to the association.

The chief minister assured the delegation that “no such incident will be allowed to happen in the future and all necessary steps will be taken in this regard”.

Riyaz Ahmad Chowdhary, chief executive officer the Kishtwar Development Authority, was slapped by Kitchloo and later thrashed by the supporters of the minister for being late for an official function by two minutes.

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar