• The recent move to withdraw the CRPF from Baramulla and bring in the J-K Armed Police was also taken in haste. Instead of acting against those responsible for the firing — Baramulla DC Latief-u-Zaman Deva called it “unwarranted”, without provocation — Abdullah decided to calm the situation by moving out the CRPF.

• The Shopian case — two young women were raped and murdered, triggering protests across the Valley which subsided only after a probe began to identify the culprits — also underlined the lack of control the government had over the administration. Abdullah himself was “misled” when he was told that the two women had drowned although doctors had established “sexual assault”. The government later suspended four police officials, including the SP, but no one in the government has tried to find out who misled the CM on such a sensitive issue.