Breaking his silence over handling of the Mehbooba Mufti led PDP-BJP alliance of current protests, former chief minister and NC working president, Omar Abdullah, today said the PDP-BJP alliance has brought the State to “the verge of mayhem and turmoil.”
“Thousands of young men are languishing in various jails while thousands have been booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) by Mehbooba Mufti’s Government. We have lost nearly a hundred precious lives in the current unrest and hundreds have been partially or completely robbed of their eyesight,” Abdullah said addressing his party convention at frontier Kupwara district. This was his first public address after unrest broke out in the valley over the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant commander, Burhan Muzaffer Wani on July 8.
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“While Mehbooba Mufti spent five months accusing the civilians for the unrest and ridiculed the killed for daring to get killed, she now suddenly admits there was excessive use of force,” Abdullah said referring to recent statements of Mehbooba where she admitted of using excessive force and urged police to make distinction between a militant and his family.
“Why was she silent for five months and why did she suddenly realize there was excessive use of force? Was this Mufti Sahab’s vision–to rob our future generation of their eyesight”, Abdullah said pointing towards over 1100 youths, who have got visually impaired due to the pellet firing in past five months.
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Abdullah described the PDP-BJP alliance as experiment of opportunism and said the leaders of the two parties tried very hard to sell it as alleged out-of-box idea to bring the two regions of the State closer together. “All of that has been debunked within the first couple of years of an alliance that has not only widened the gap between regions but also brought development to a complete, unprecedented standstill”, NC working president said .
He said the need for New Delhi to start a comprehensive political dialogue both with various stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir as well as with Pakistan was unquestionable and crucial in order to achieve sustainable peace.
Omar asked New Delhi to change its “rigid stance” and adopt a nuanced, humane policy of engagement rather than treating a political issue through law and order mechanisms.
“There is absolutely no alternative to political engagement. New Delhi needs to realize that it has to talk to various stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir and also resume the dialogue process with Pakistan if it wants to see normalcy and peace in Kashmir.”
“While National Conference remains committed to its struggle for the restoration of Autonomy, we have always maintained that we will welcome any other solution that is acceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir as well as New Delhi and Islamabad”, Abdullah added.
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“Our own proposed solution and agenda aside, we will continue demanding that New Delhi initiates an unconditional political engagement with all other stakeholders, including the Hurriyat leadership in a sincere effort to end the turmoil and bloodshed in Kashmir and find a lasting solution to the political issue”, Omar said.
He said political issue will not be resolved militarily or administratively. “The Kashmir issue needs constructive, imaginative and sincere political handling. Distorting and misrepresenting the ground situation in Kashmir at various fora won’t change the ground reality–the problem in Kashmir isn’t a derivative of terrorism or black-money but that of an unresolved political dispute”, Abdullah said.
