``The sacking does not augur well in the case of a person holding such a high office in the forces,'' Farooq said, in reply to a question by media persons at a press conference here. Pointing out that he did not know whether there was anything against Admiral Bhagwat, he said that the Government action was shocking and should have been avoided.

If Admiral Bhagwat was at fault, he should have been court martialled as per the provisions of the defence services, Dr Abdullah said. He denied that the dismissal of Admiral Bhagwat would demoralise the security forces. ``Our forces are dedicated to the nation and such incidents do not affect their morale,'' he said.

On violence perpetrated on minorities in Gujarat, Dr Abdullah said, ``They(attackers) by attacking the Christians are damaging our age-old tradition of tolerance. They are trying to impose their will on the others, which is not fair.''

India has a history of tolerance and everybody here has the right to live with hounour and dignity, he added. Commenting on the financial crunch in the State, Dr Abdullah said that ``the State is facing the crises due to the non-release of funds from the Centre and increased expenditure on security measures.'' The law and order situation in the State has improved considerably and is very much under control. He expressed hope that in the new year, the situation would improve further.

Dr Abdullah said, ``We are disappointed with the Centre, as the fund flows from the Centre is not as good as it should be.'' However, he expressed hope that the Centre would understand the State's problem and release funds soon, as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has assured.

The State Government has decided to implement the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations,due to which about Rs 800 crore burden has fallen on the Exchequer. ``The Centre had promised us to meet this burden but we are not getting money from the Centre,'' he added.

The State Finance Minister Shafi Uri, who was also present, said that the security expenditure to tackle militancy in the State in the last seven to eight years increased by many folds, but the revenue did not increase likewise, as the State was not into manufacturing. ``Our resources are limited and the main factor contributing to the financial loss is the non-release of funds from the Centre,''.

``We had prepared a Rs 3,000 crore package for the development of the State and was presented to the then Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda who had given assurance to sanction it, but till date nothing has been done,'' he said.

The Centre, which had to pay Rs 215 crore toward security expenditure, has paid only Rs 100 crore so far, he added. Asked whether the Abdullah Government would adopt a tough policy on the BJP-led Government at theCentre since it had not been releasing funds, the Chief Minister said, ``As far as our financial requirements are concerned, we are having meetings and are trying to pursue the Centre to understand our problems.''