JOIN USKashmiris won’t beg for Assembly elections before Center: Omar
Stating that Kashmiris won’t beg for holding Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday accused the Center of misleading the nation about the abrogation of Article 370.
“If elections are not held this year, so be it! I have said it time and again, Kashmiris are not beggars. Election is our right but we won’t beg before them (Centre) for this right. They want to restore the elections to us, good. But if they don’t want to do it, so be it,” he told reporters in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
He didn’t stop there and claimed that eviction of people from properties and state lands was one of the reasons why elections were not being held in Jammu and Kashmir.
“BJP is punishing people of Kashmir and enjoying it by doing so. They know if the elected government comes in J&K they will heal the peoples wounds and that is why they don’t want elections here,” the former CM added.
The Abdullah scion accused the BJP of lying to the country when they abrogated Article 370 in August 2019 by “saying that it was responsible for everything happening in Kashmir and now since then we have seen an uprising in terrorist activities".
“Earlier the BJP used to claim that Article 370 pampered militancy in J&K and if it is finished the region will get militancy-free. But with the passage of time all these promises and assurances have been proved deceptive. Instead, there is a huge rise in militant activities in J&K,” he said and added that normalcy claims of the BJP government were aimed to make people ‘fool.’
“Rajouri like terrorist attacks are the failure of BJP’s central led administration in J&K and now due to the mishandling of the situation we are witnessing revival of village defence committees (VDCs) and additional deployment of forces here,” the NC leader said.
Seven persons were killed and 14 others injured in the terrorist attack on January 1 in Rajouri district's Dhangri village.