Omar Abdullah says J&K residents are increasingly viewed with suspicion after the Delhi blast.
He notes families are now hesitant to send children outside the UT due to perceived targeting.
Police have intensified checks, verifying over 500 J&K residents in Faridabad alone.
Omar Abdullah Says J&K Residents Face Suspicion After Delhi Blast
At a Kulgam event, the J&K Chief Minister says people now hesitate to travel outside the Union Territory due to rising distrust following the Red Fort-area explosion.
Summary
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said many residents are reluctant to travel outside the Union Territory because they feel they are viewed with suspicion following the recent blast near Delhi’s Red Fort. According to PTI, Abdullah voiced concern at an event in south Kashmir’s Kulgam, saying the actions of a few were unfairly being used to judge the entire population.
“In the prevailing circumstances, perhaps parents will not like to send their children outside. When we are looked at with suspicious eyes from every side, when attempts are made to defame us for someone else's doing, when attempts are made to bring everyone into the ambit of what few people have done, then it is obvious that it becomes difficult for us to leave for outside,” he said.
The chief minister said that it was uncomfortable to acknowledge this reality, “but what can we do, that is the reality”.
Referring to the 10 November car explosion in Delhi that killed 15 people and set off a multi-agency probe by the Delhi Police Special Cell, NIA and Crime Branch, Abdullah said a perception had been created that all people from Jammu and Kashmir were somehow responsible. “Few people are responsible for what happened in Delhi (car blast near Red Fort), but a perception is being created that we all are to blame for that and we all are a part of it,” he added.
Abdullah also said he himself hesitates when driving a Jammu and Kashmir-registered vehicle in the national capital. “Today, even driving a J-K registration vehicle in Delhi is being seen as a crime. When I do not have many security personnel with me, I myself think whether I should take out my car or not, as I do not know if anyone will stop me and ask me where I was from and why I had come there,” he said.
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PTI reported that since the blast, security checks have intensified, with police verifying more than 500 people from Jammu and Kashmir in Faridabad alone as part of tightened measures.
(With inputs from PTI)
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