Violent protests such as the one witnessed today are becoming more and more frequent, adding to the problems of Omar Abdullah who, when he took over as Chief Minister earlier this year, raised hopes of giving J&K a “politically serious and administratively accountable” government. Six months and two major incidents in Shopian and Baramulla later, questions are now being raised about his government’s efficiency.

The Chief Minister and his deputy declined to comment for this report.

Consider the following:

• The 38-year-old Abdullah had promised a Cabinet that would mark a generational shift. But today, there is no young face in the nine-member Cabinet — he remains the youngest, grappling with as many as 20 portfolios, from Home to Planning, Agriculture to Information Technology, Animal Husbandry to Hajj and Auqaf. Cabinet expansion has been repeatedly put on hold.

• The National Conference decision to field Abdullah’s uncle Mustafa Kamal in the Hazratbal Assembly by-election did not go down well in sections of the party. For, Kamal was defeated in the Tangmarg constituency and his victory in the May by-election strengthened criticism that the Abdullahs put their family first given that he is all set to join the Cabinet.

• Abdullah has continued with the administrative arrangement put in place during Governor’s rule although he promised his own team of bureaucrats. Questions were raised when senior officers failed to respond to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s queries on revenue and development during a recent meeting. The Cabinet expressed displeasure over this embarrassing ignorance but let the matter rest there.

• The promise of an open and transparent government remains just that. A much-publicised 24/7 call centre in the CM’s office to provide greater public access is still to start. Nor has the promise of a stringent RTI been kept. Abdullah’s key political advisor is his friend Davinder Rana, a businessman-turned-politician from Jammu who is in charge of the CM’s office. Although the CM has begun hold public interactions at district headquarters, there is no advisor who can be a political interface between the CM and people in the Valley.

• Contrary to the NC poll promise, there has been no engagement between the government and separatists. Abdullah had promised to strengthen institutions to check human rights abuses and become a “bridge between Centre and the separatists.” There has been no discussion or meeting on this so far.

• The J-K Police has two DGPs, it is ill-equipped and lacks training to make the shift from counter-insurgency to crowd-control. This was evident in the way it handled crisis situations. Stone-pelting protesters were dealt with live ammunition, people being shot above the waist. The killing of four protesters in Baramulla is one such example. Two protesters died after being hit by teargas shells which were fired to disperse the crowd.

• Abdullah’s critics have been calling him a “non-resident CM” because of his frequent travels to New Delhi where his family lives. Sources said he has visited the capital 20 times since he took charge.

• The Congress, the NC’s partner, isn’t helping either. While Abdullah is said to have a good rapport with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, there is tension between his party and the local Congress leadership. Congress leader and Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand has been saying in public that the “only difference between him and the CM is one additional vehicle in Abdullah’s cavalcade.” The competition is such that Chand even ordered the Estates department to furnish his office exactly like the CM’s.

• In fact, Congress members of the Cabinet are split in two camps — Health Minister Sham Lal and Public Health Engineering and Irrigation minister Taj Mohideen are close to Saifuddin Soz while Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand and others are with Ghulam Nabi Azad. The public tiff over a VIP suite in Kashmir House in Delhi between Tara Chand and Taj Mohideen brought the tension to the surface. Three important files on the Dal preservation project had been blocked by the Deputy Chief Minister for three months even as Abdullah asked for their clearance.

• The CM has been often seen as “reacting” to the Opposition PDP and, in the process, taking hasty decisions. For example, the issue of troop reduction has been the central plank of the PDP. Abdullah responded by demanding the pre-1989 position on troop deployment, a step ahead of the PDP.

• 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.