Kashmir a political problem, Omar tells Rajnath

Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah on Sunday discussed long-term and short-term measures to resolve the Kashmir issue with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Omar, who is also working president of the Opposition—the National Conference (NC), told reporters that he explained to Rajnath that Kashmir was not an economic issue but fundamentally a political problem.

“Kashmir is a political issue and we told the Home Minister to have courage to accept it as a political issue. We pitched for dialogue with all the stakeholders involved in this issue as a long-term measure,” he said.

Omar argued that a dialogue process, which should be acceptable to majority of the people, must be initiated to reach to a solution. “We told the Home Minister that the Union government should initiate a sustained dialogue process with Pakistan as well as internal stakeholders, including the leadership of the Hurriyat Conference and other groups in the Valley, with an aim to evolve a consensus towards a mutually acceptable solution to the political issue,” the former chief minister said.

“We also urged him to order a judicial probe into the state government’s mishandling of the situation in the aftermath of Burhan Wani’s killing, including the veracity of claims made by its senior leaders including its Member of Parliament for north Kashmir and the state’s Finance Minister,” he added. The NC which had earlier refused to attend the all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti submitted a memorandum to the Home Minister seeking a judicial probe into the circumstances leading to the killings of dozens of civilians in the Valley in the current unrest.

The party also called for immediate restoration of mobile telecommunications and internet services.