In Ramadan spirit, Omar pardons shoe thrower

SRINAGAR - Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Tuesday pardoned the suspended police head constable who had flung a shoe at him during the Independence Day parade here Sunday.

The chief minister called Abdul Ahad Jan to his residence in Srinagar city and told him that he had decided to pardon him for the insult in the true spirit of the holy month of Ramadan, which taught every Muslim to forget and forgive.

Local Doordarshan Kendra flashed images of Abdullah consoling Jan as he broke down and wept bitterly when the chief minister made Jan sit in front and politely told him about the pardon.

Reports here also said the chief minister had asked authorities to withdraw the criminal complaint registered against the shoe thrower.

Jan had been overpowered and whisked away by security men immediately after he flung his shoe at the chief minister when the latter had just unfurled the national flag inside the Bakshi Stadium here Sunday.

Fifteen personnel, including four officers, of the state police security wing have been suspended for the security lapse which enabled Jan to sit in the stadium’s VIP enclosure, barely three rows behind the podium from where Abdullah took the salute at the Independence Day parade.