News Analysis India

Tag: Omar Abdullah

  • Omar Abdullah says BJP’s only agenda of fighting elections is ‘blatant communalism, hatred’

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Sunday said the BJP has no intention of fighting any election with an agenda other than “blatant communalism and hatred” with all the “venom” directed towards Muslims.

    His remarks came after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said only those saying “Abba Jaan” used to get all the ration before 2017.

    “Under PM Modi leadership, there is no place for appeasement politics. Before 2017 was everyone able to get ration? Earlier only those who used to say ‘Abba Jaan’ were digesting the ration,” Adityanath said in Kushinagar.

    Omar wrote on Twitter, “I’ve always maintained the BJP has no intention of fighting any election with an agenda other than blatant communalism & hatred with all the venom directed towards Muslims. Here is a CM seeking re-election claiming that Muslims ate up all the rations meant for Hindus.”

  • Omar Abdullah asks Union government whether it considers Taliban terror organisation

    By PTI

    JAMMU: A day after India officially talked to the Taliban, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday asked the Union government to clarify whether or not it considered the outfit a terror organisation.

    “Either Taliban is a terror organisation or it is not. Please clarify to us how you (GoI) see the Taliban,” the National Conference vice president told reporters after an Indian representative in Doha met a Taliban leader on Tuesday.

    This was the first officially acknowledged meeting when Indian Ambassador to Qatar Deepak Mittal met senior Taliban leader Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai and conveyed India’s concerns that Afghanistan’s soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism.

    “Is the Taliban a terrorist organisation and if it is not, will you move to the United Nations to delist it as a terror organisation. Right now, you (India) are presiding over the UN Security Council,” Abdullah, who has been a Minister of State for External Affairs during Vajpayee’s tenure, said.

    Citing media reports, he questioned that if the Taliban is a terror outfit then why is the government engaging with it in Qatar.

    “They are engaging Taliban. It is in today’s news that you are talking to each other in Qatar. If you are talking to them, why are you asking this question to me,” he said.

    He was replying to a question whether India should engage with the Taliban and give it a chance.

    “Either the Taliban is a terror organisation or it is not. Please clarify how you (GoI) see the Taliban,” the NC vice-president asked the Union government.

    He further asked how does one distinguish the Taliban from other terrorist outfits.

    “If it is not a terrorist organisation, please move in the UN to remove it from the list of terror organisations. Let its bank accounts start functioning, let us not treat them differently,” Abdullah said.

    The former chief minister said there should not be different yardsticks for different terror organisations.

    “If they are a terror organisation, why are you (GoI) talking to them? If they are not a terror organisation, why are you banning their bank accounts. Why are you not recognizing their government? Make up your mind,” he said.

  • I was deeply jaded but politicians can’t mourn for long: Omar Abdullah on Article 370 abrogation

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: Two years after the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was abrogated and he was detained for 234 days, National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah said on Wednesday that after initially being “deeply jaded” he had realised that as a politician he didn’t have the right to “mourn” for long and could not let down the people struggling for their basic constitutional rights.

    On the eve of the second anniversary of the nullification of Article 370 of the Constitution, the former chief minister of the erstwhile state which has been bifurcated into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, said that what had been done on August 5 had come as a shock to most people who were affected by the “sudden, unexpected and unconstitutional blow”.

    Abdullah, who spent seven months in detention which was challenged in the Supreme Court, recalled, “I was a deeply jaded and disappointed individual. I found it difficult to motivate myself even to indulge in basic political activities possible in the prevailing situation. But as the saying goes ‘if you want the rainbow, you have got to put up with rain’. So here I am doing the best I can for the people.”

    He said that the workers and leaders of the National Conference had made immense sacrifices for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “Hundreds of our workers and several of our leaders have fallen to the bullets of militants. I thought of all this when a certain light inside me was getting dimmer during my solitary confinement. I realised I could not just walk away,” he told PTI.

    There is no doubt in Abdullah’s mind that the abrogation of Article 370 was unconstitutional which had been challenged as such on behalf of his party in the Supreme Court. “I have hope and faith in the Supreme Court which had said that they could turn the clock back if merited. I am sure that someday justice will be done to the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh,” the NC vice president said.

    Answering a question on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with mainstream leaders of Jammu and Kashmir on June 24, Abdullah said that the initiative needs to be followed up on the ground to produce meaningful results.

    “The prime minister candidly spoke of reducing the “doori” (distance), both physical and mental, between Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. We now await the start of the follow-up to that meeting,” he said.

    “There is so much talk of development, development. We would welcome that if it really happened. The administration needs to go beyond inaugurating projects for which work had begun during the time of elected governments,” the NC leader said.

    About the claims of substantial improvement in the law and order situation, he said, “You cannot gag the people and then claim all is well. In the last two years people are not allowed to do even peaceful protests. The due process of law is ignored. On the one hand a rosy picture of the situation is painted and on the other hand the Centre tells Parliament that statehood will be restored when the situation normalises.”

    In any case, the people cannot any longer continue to be deprived of an elected government through free and fair elections in a full-fledged state, Abdullah emphasised. Both restoration of statehood and holding of early elections have been promised at the highest levels by the Centre.

    “That should be the order — restoration of full, undiluted statehood, followed by Assembly elections. There is no better way to reduce, to a large extent, the trust deficit to which the prime minister obliquely referred,” he said.

    Abdullah was categorical that he would not be contesting elections for the foreseeable future but made it clear, “I will continue to be with our people and serve them even if I am not in the Assembly.”

  • Omar Abdullah speaks up against Jammu and Kashmir Police order on security clearance

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: An adverse police report cannot be a substitute for being found guilty in a court of law, National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah said on Sunday.

    The remarks came a day after the CID wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police ordered the denial of security clearance required for passport and other government services to all those involved in stone-pelting or subversive activities.

    “An ‘adverse police report’ can not be a substitute for being found guilty in a court of law.

    A year and a half ago J&K police were able to create an ‘adverse police report’ to justify my detention under the Public Safety Act that would never have stood up to legal challenge,” the NC leader wrote on Twitter.

    ALSO READ | J&K Police to deny security clearance for passport, govt services to stone pelters

    He was referring to his PSA detention after the Centre revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August 2019.

    The former chief minister of the erstwhile J-K state said guilt or innocence must be proven in court and should not be based on unproven police reports.

    “They did the same with scores of others, many of whom had these police reports tossed out by the courts. An executive order cannot replace a court of law. Guilt or innocence must be proven in court & not based of vague unproven police reports,” he added.

  • Back from Delhi, Farooq Abdullah says ‘level of mistrust’ in J&K; Omar demands statehood before polls

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah Saturday said there was “a level of mistrust” in Jammu and Kashmir and it was for the Centre to remove it, even as his son and former chief minister Omar Abdullah demanded restoring Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood before holding Assembly polls.

    Speaking to reporters upon their return from Delhi after attending an all-party meet convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq said he would hold discussions with his party leaders and PAGD constituents before making any further statement on the meeting.

    He said the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru promised plebiscite to the people of J&K, but went back on it.

    He also said that before the 1996 elections, the then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao had promised autonomy from the floor of the house.

    “Narasimha Raoji before elections promised us autonomy and said sky is the limit, but not independence. We said we never asked (for) independence, we have asked for autonomy. He promised us from the floor of the house. Where is that?” Farooq asked.

    “There is a level of mistrust….We should wait and see what they (the Centre) do….Whether they will remove the mistrust or let it continue,” he added.

    The former CM said even senior Congress leader Karan Singh has called for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir before holding elections.

    He said that at the prime minister’s meeting, all invited persons put forth their views.

    “This was the first step from their side that somehow the situation is improved in Jammu and Kashmir and a political process is restarted,” he said.

    The Srinagar Lok Sabha MP dismissed suggestions that the June 24 meeting with the Prime Minister signalled the end of People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) — a Six-party amalgam of mainstream parties formed after the Centre abrogated Article 370 and split Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories in August 2019.

    “Why should it be the end of the alliance?” Omar, meanwhile, told reporters it was made clear to the Centre during the PM’s meeting that the statehood should be restored to Jammu and Kashmir before holding of Assembly elections.

    “(Ghulam Nabi) Azad sahib spoke on behalf of all of us that we do not accept this timeline. We do not accept delimitation, election, statehood. We want delimitation, statehood and then election. If you want to hold polls, you will have to restore statehood first,” he told reporters soon after returning from Delhi.

    On the process of delimitation, he said the National Conference had authorised its president Farooq Abdullah to take a view as and when the party is approached by the delimitation commission again.

    Dismissing suggestions that the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) was weakened after the meeting, Omar said that in the all-party meet alliance members said nothing which was outside the spirit of the grouping.

    “We maintain that we do not accept the August 2019 decisions and we will continue to fight them legally, democratically and peacefully,” he said.

    Referring to some leaders refusing to talk about the restoration of Article 370 as the matter was subjudice, Omar said it should not come in the way of discussing the issue.

    “Firstly, only two persons said the matter is subjdice — Azad and Muzaffar Hussain Baig — and they both are not part of the PAGD. The matter is before the Supreme Court does not mean we cannot talk about it. The Babri Masjid case was before the Supreme Court but the BJP raised the Ram Temple issue all along,” he said.

    He said the leaders were invited to the all-party meet at party level and not as an alliance.

    “Had we been invited as an alliance, then only one person would have been invited,” he added.

    The National Conference vice president said they would continue to strive for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, irrespective of how long it takes.

    “It took 70 years for the BJP to succeed in their agenda of abrogation of Article 370. We won’t back off from our mission, even if it takes us 70 weeks or 70 months or more time,” he said.

    He said the leadership should take steps that provide some respite to the people from harassment.

  • Day after meeting PM Modi on Jammu & Kashmir, parties push for statehood before elections

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: A day after the Centre unveiled its roadmap for the resumption of the democratic process in J&K, leaders of several parties said restoration of statehood must precede Assembly elections, while PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti claimed she would not enter the fray till special status under Article 370 is restored, though her party would.

    Explaining her rationale, Mehbooba said, “Otherwise they will say I am doing it for political gains. If PDP wins the polls, I will not be chief minister.” However, she said that her party would contest the polls as it cannot leave any democratic space otherwise it will be taken away by other forces.

    Mehbooba is the third J&K leader to decide not to contest polls. NC vice-president Omar Abdullah and another party leader Aga Ruhullah have already made their entering the fray conditional to the restoration of full statehood.

    ALSO READ| PM’s meeting with J-K leaders ‘positive’ step; Centre must restore statehood before assembly polls: Karan Singh

    Senior National Conference leader and Gupkar Alliance coordinator Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi said holding of polls while J&K remains a Union Territory is not acceptable. “In Assam, they kept on hold the delimitation process and held Assembly elections while here they say delimitation will precede elections (while it remains a UT),” he pointed out.

    Another NC leader Imran Nabi Dar said the party’s position is clear: grant of statehood should be the first confidence building measure of the Centre.

    Articulating the stand of the Congress, senior party leader P Chidambaram said: “Congress and other J&K parties and leaders want statehood first and elections afterwards. Government’s response is elections first and statehood later. The horse pulls the cart. A state must conduct elections. Only such elections will be free and fair. Why does the government want the cart in front and the horse behind? It is bizarre.”

    ALSO READ| Delimitation, holding of polls in J-K important milestones in restoring statehood: Amit Shah

    Senior CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who is also spokesperson of the Gupkar Alliance, told this newspaper that they had not attended the all-party meet in Delhi for holding elections. “None of us had gone there to demand elections,Tarigami said.

    Union home minister Amit Shah had on Thursday told the all-party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that while the Centre is committed to restoring statehood, it will happen after the delimitation process and the Assembly elections are over. “We did not get answers to our concerns. The PM did not offer anything concrete in terms of assurances,” Tarigami said.

    Different strokes

    CentreStatehood to J&K to follow delimitation exercise and Assembly elections

    National ConferenceWants restoration of statehood before J&K goes to polls

    PDPState polls after restoration of special status under Article 370

  • PM said he wants to remove ‘dil ki doori and Dilli ki doori’: Omar after meet on J&K

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed to a group of leaders from Jammu and Kashmir that he wanted to remove “dil ki doori and Dilli ki doori” — distance between hearts and the distance with Delhi — National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said after a meeting to chalk out the future course of action in the union territory on Thursday.

    Talking to reporters after the meeting, Abdullah said both Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah assured that they were committed to the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.

    The meeting was called nearly two years after the Centre abrogated special status of the erstwhile state and bifurcated it into two union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

    “The takeaway from the meeting was that the prime minister said that he wanted to remove ‘dil ki doori and Dilli ki doori’ but I as well as other leaders are sure that one meeting is not enough for the same. However, a process has begun,” Abdullah, a former chief minister, said.

    The central leadership wanted to hold the assembly elections immediately after the delimitation commission submits its report but senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad urged the prime minister to restore full statehood before conducting the polls, he said.

    He said that his party president Farooq Abdullah said during the meeting that there was an urgent need to rebuild trust in Jammu and Kashmir.

    “The trust deficit among the people of Jammu and Kashmir needs to be addressed to immediately by the Centre and for that, the process of restoration of complete statehood is necessary,” he said.

    On the delimitation commission, Omar Abdullah said the central leadership was informed that the exercise in itself was defeating the very purpose with which the BJP-led government had carried out the exercise of abrogation of special status on August 5, 2019.

    “On one hand the central leadership claimed that the decision in August 2019 was taken for a complete merger of Jammu and Kashmir with the Union of India and on the other the same Jammu and Kashmir is treated differently by bringing in separate delimitation commissions for Assam and us.”

    “If the delimitation commission for Assam could be withheld and assembly elections held there, then why not for Jammu and Kashmir. Isn’t this defeating the very purpose of the central leadership,” he asked.

    The former chief minister said that even the central leadership was of the view the government could not be run by bureaucrats and that a political government needs to take charge.

    Omar Abdullah said, “Our party president has made it clear that as and when an invite for the (delimitation) commission meeting will come, we will take consider it.”

    Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters that he put forward various points on behalf of his party in the meeting, which included restoration of complete statehood, followed by elections.

    “I have also asked for a rehabilitation process for Kashmir Pandits, release of political prisoners, and domicile rules whereby the Centre guarantees jobs for the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” Azad told reporters.

    PDP president Mehbooba Mufti told reporters that the meeting went off well and that she has complimented the prime minister for initiating back-channel talks with Pakistan that led to the ceasefire agreement at the Line of Control (LoC) and decrease in infiltration levels.

    “I have requested the prime minister that, if need be, we could talk to Pakistan once again for further boosting the peace process,” she said.

    On the abrogation of Article 370, Mehbooba said that her party would continue to fight for its restoration.

    “After all the special status has not been given to us by Pakistan. It was given to us by late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar (Vallabhbhai) Patel. We will continue to fight for restoration of special status through legal and constitutional means,” she said.

    She also demanded resumption of cross-LoC trade which had been stopped by India following reports that it was used for smuggling of arms and ammunition and was being used to fund terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

  • Jammu and Kashmir’s economy on brink of collapse: Omar Abdullah

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah on Monday said the economy of Jammu and Kashmir is on the ‘brink of collapse’ as every sector in the union territory has suffered losses in the last two years.

    Addressing a meeting of the party’s constituency in-charges of north Kashmir’s Baramulla District at party headquarters Nawa-e-Subha here, Abdullah expressed concern over ‘the soaring unemployment’ in Jammu and Kashmir and the alleged rising incidents of suicide among the youth.

    ‘The economy of J&K, it goes without saying, is at the brink of collapse. There is no sector of its economy — be it tourism, horticulture, transport, or trade — that hasn’t suffered losses in the past two years,’ Abdullah said.

    The NC leader said the UT’s local economy is already on its ‘deathbed’ due to the ravaging deluge of 2014 followed by demonetisation and the successive lockdowns. ‘The series of occurrences over the years also had a backbreaking impact on the people. The ongoing crisis has diminished all hopes of economic revival. The recently announced economic package is insufficient to bring the ailing economy of J&K back,’ he said.

    Referring to the recent cases of suicides in the valley, Abdullah said the ‘increased occurrence’ of suicides in Kashmir is a ‘physical manifestation of the sordid anti-youth policies’ of the government ‘pushing already aggrieved educated and skilled youth towards the wall’.

    “The successive clampdown and Covid-induced lockdowns have further compounded the woes of J&K youth by choking the already constrained job sector. There are thousands of unemployed medics, paramedics, engineers, graduates and post graduates waiting for job openings,” he said.

    “The situation has become much worse as the industrial sector, which is supposed to absorb the unemployed youths, continues to struggle,” he added.

    Abdullah said what little opportunities were provided by local tourism, manufacturing, handicraft and transportation sectors, have also been ‘clogged by the predatory impact’ of tumultuous situations since August 2019 — when the Centre revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status — in the shape of successive lockdowns and weather vagaries.

    The NC leader also exhorted the party functionaries to support the efforts of the administration in the battle against Covid and asked them to help people in whatever way they could.

    “We haven’t won the battle against Covid. We are half way towards eliminating it. It requires strengthening of testing, tracing and treatment mechanisms. Stepping up of vaccination drives also holds the key towards improving the herd immunity. Administration is doing its best in combating the virus, a lot needs to be done,” he said. “But people cannot absolve themselves of their duties. The best the people of J&K can do is to follow the required Covid protocols, government advisories and shun vaccine inhibition.

    I hope the party functionaries will take the lead in getting themselves and their families vaccinated,” he added.

  • NC leader Omar Abdullah calls out J&K govt’s ‘dim-witted policies’ over youth’s suicide

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah on Monday expressed shock and grief over the suicide of a 24-year-old youth from Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir who ended his life as his father was not paid salary for two years.

    Abdullah called the incident “a visible manifestation of the misplaced policies” of the administration and demanded a time-bound inquiry.

    The former chief minister’s remarks came after the youth from Avil area of Noorabad in the south Kashmir district recorded a video message to invite government attention towards the miseries of his family before taking his life.

    In the video, the youth said he was taking the extreme step as his father – a government teacher – was not paid salary for over two years.

    Expressing shock, the NC vice-president said the incident has brought forth the mounting financial pressure on the people of Jammu and Kashmir propelled by the “dim-witted policies” of the J&K government.

    “The unfortunate incident ditches the claims of the government on the so-called dividends that August 05 (2019) measures were said would bring.

    People are suffering,” he said, referring to the revocation of the special status of the erstwhile state of J&K by the Centre on August 5, 2019.

    The suicide committed by a promising youth should act as an eye opener for the government to assess the plight of the people including the employees of J&K, Abdullah said.

    “It’s quite evident that by targeting employees, the government has put the livelihood of their families at stake. This incident should be enough to remind the government about the extent of its anti-employee measures.

    This very incident also betrays an appalling picture of the level of anxiety and mental trauma, the families whose sole breadwinners are without salaries for months altogether,” he said.

    Abdullah expressed hope that the incident would be moving enough for the incumbent government to make urgent amendments to its policies with regards to employees.

    He demanded a time-bound inquiry and fixing of responsibility leading to the incident.

    “The drastic step taken by the youth is a direct fallout of the government policies and actions.

    The concerns of the government employees have become insurmountable and if the grievances are not redressed, the situation can snowball.

    “Post August 5, 2019, Jammu and Kashmir has already earned a reputation of being one of the highest unemployed regions.

    The youngster’s suicide is yet another macabre reflection of the implication of the policies the Centre and the incumbent J&K government is pursuing vis-à-vis J&K,” he said.

    The former J&K chief minister expressed solidarity with the bereaved family and prayed for fortitude to them in their hour of loss.

    He also prayed for peace to the departed.

  • COVID: Omar Abdullah tweets SOS from Ayodhya teacher’s family as district faces oxygen scarcity

    By PTI
    AYODHYA: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah took to Twitter to amplify the plea for medical assistance from the family of a COVID-positive school teacher in Ayodhya, which is grappling with a shortage of life-saving oxygen as the number of cases mounts.

    BJP MP from Faizabad Lallu Singh acknowledged that there is a shortage of oxygen in the district.

    The District Women’s Hospital has put admissions on hold due to the scarcity of oxygen.

    Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) of the hospital Dr SK Shukla said three patients have died at the facility in as many days due to oxygen shortage.

    In his tweet, Abdullah shared a message from the family of Anand Pandey, 52, to help them find oxygen and a hospital bed for him.

    “Forwarded message: Dear Sir, Please help in oxygen cylinder and bed for patient in Ayodhya. Patient Name Anand Pandey Age 52 Location: AYODHYA Oxygen Level: 70 Puneet – 8115013333,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister tweeted on Monday.

    Pandey’s son-in-law, Puneet told PTI that his father-in-law has tested positive for COVID-19 and his oxygen levels are very low.

    “We have contacted the medical college in Ayodhya and government hospitals but there are no arrangements for oxygen in these institutes. We even contacted the public representatives and administrative officials but didn’t receive any help from anyone,” Puneet said.

    “We are not getting proper treatment. I am regularly begging politicians for oxygen but have to return empty-handed. When contacted, Faizabad MP Lallu Singh told PTI that he has spoken to the district magistrate regarding the shortage of medical oxygen.

    “There is very much a scarcity of oxygen. I talked to the district magistrate and we are trying to arrange oxygen,” he said.

    District Women’s Hospital CMS Dr S K Shukla said the facility stopped admitting patients on Monday due to a shortage of oxygen and oxygen tank regulators.

    “Three patients have died in as many days due to the lack of oxygen. In such a situation, admit your patients at your risk,” he said.

    “There are more than 2,400 COVID patients in Ayodhya district. There are beds but there aren’t enough oxygen regulators,” he said.