Can't blame Pakistan for J&K situation, says Omar Abdullah

Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and working president of Opposition National Conference (NC) Omar Abdullah on Saturday said that the political issue in Kashmir was neither an invention nor a creation of Pakistan. He added that distorting the current unrest in the Valley as a simple manifestation of terrorism or external interference would be a grave mistake.

“To blame Pakistan alone for the political situation or the current unrest in the Valley is a distortion of the truth. The people of J&K have espoused a political sentiment even when there was no external interference and this political sentiment forms the basis of the state’s special status that has since been eroded by extra-constitutional machinations,” he said. He reiterated that the political issue in Kashmir is a result of historic blunders and broken promises by successive dispensations in New Delhi.

“The situation today stands compounded because of the present Central government’s refusal to even acknowledge that a problem exists in Kashmir,” he alleged.

While speaking at convention in north-western town of Baramulla, Mr Abdullah also asserted that the alienation in the Valley had been compounded by the “opportunistic” PDP-BJP alliance.

“Whose (PDP’s) inherent contradictions had translated into never-ending U-turns on crucial evocative issues”. He alleged that PDP’s “charade” of seeking CBMs and political initiatives could not conceal the party’s “brazen abandonment of its own ideology and vision document in a bargain to attain power”.

“There is a stark difference between the Mehbooba Mufti of the Opposition and the Mehbooba Mufti of the ruling PDP-BJP government. It has now become evident that the Mehbooba of Opposition was just an elaborate facade to pave way for Mehbooba Mufti’s ascent to the chief minister’s chair. Her theatrical performances as an Opposition leader might have served her well but when people compare her present avatar to her previous posturing — she stands exposed. Every single promise made by the PDP to seek votes in the previous elections has been broken with utter contempt shown towards the people of the state”, the NC leader alleged.

He accused the PDP-BJP alliance of wreaking havoc with the State and said that the government has ceased to exist on the ground and its mere presence is exhibited solely through indiscriminate arrests and imposition of the State’s stringent Public Safety Act against the youth. “The loss of nearly a hundred innocent young lives in the current unrest and the unimaginable and indiscriminate repression of our youth has been the most noticeable hallmark of the PDP-BJP alliance and Mehbooba Mufti’s refusal to acknowledge her failure has only compounded the misery of the people”, Mr. Abdullah said.

He also said Ms. Mufti should accept responsibility for the loss of nearly 100 young lives based on the same standards which she used to accuse Ghulam Nabi Azad in 2008 and him (Omar Abdullah) in 2010. “For Mehbooba Mufti everyone is responsible except her. She keeps blaming everyone else but doesn’t have it in her heart to accept responsibility for the loss of lives under her watch. Rather than releasing thousands of arrested youths, she wants to create these charades of going to New Delhi to seek CBMs,” he said, asking “Why don’t you release thousands of arrested civilians before you seek CBMs from New Delhi?” He concluded saying “We all know what came of her demands for CBMs as a pre-condition to form the government in the State after Mufti (Sayeed) Sahib’s demise”.

Meanwhile, the NC has demanded a time bound probe into the death of a civilian at an encounter site in Chancer Kulgam. While condemning the “tragic loss” of a J&K Fisheries Department employee Assadullah Kumar, the party provincial spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said, “The NC legislators, while condemning the tragic loss of a young life in Kulgam, demanded that a time bound probe be announced to ascertain the circumstances leading to the death of Assadullah Kumar.”