‘Leh and Kargil oppose the idea of being separated from Kashmir,’ Omar wrote.
Breaking the silence that his party had maintained for almost a year after the abrogation of Article 370 and the Reorganization of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, National Conference Leader Omar Abdullah on Sunday writing a piece in India’s national daily, The Indian Express, penned down his thoughts about what happened on the 5th of August last year.
Omar Abdullah took to twitter yesterday and wrote, “to the extent that it’s possible to put my thoughts about what happened on the 5th of August last year in to one piece this is my first attempt. Actually this line is the only one but that’s about me the rest is all my thoughts regarding what was done to J&K.”
To the extent that it’s possible to put my thoughts about what happened on the 5th of August last year in to one piece this is my first attempt. Actually this line is the only one but that’s about me the rest is all my thoughts regarding what was done to J&K. https://t.co/P80joFFw2d
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) July 26, 2020
In the piece, Omar made it clear that he will not be contesting assembly elections as long as Jammu and Kashmir remains a Union Territory.
“Over the last seven decades, Union Territories have been upgraded to states but this was the first time a state was downgraded to a Union Territory,” the piece read.
“I am very clear that while J&K remains a Union Territory I will not be contesting any Assembly elections. Having been a member of the most empowered Assembly in the land and that, too, as the leader of that Assembly for six years, I simply cannot and will not be a member of a House that has been disempowered the way ours has,” he wrote.
Omar wrote if the reason for carving out a union territory was a public demand among the Buddhist population of the area, then the demand for a separate state for the people of Jammu was a much older demand.
If the demand was conceded on religious grounds, then it ignored the fact that Leh and Kargil districts, which together make up the Union Territory of Ladakh, are Muslim majority and the people of Kargil are vehemently opposed to the idea of being separated from J&K.
“With almost all of my senior colleagues still detained in their homes, the NC is yet to meet to decide its next political course of action and I will work diligently to strengthen the party, carry forward its agenda and continue to represent the aspirations of the people while we fight against the injustices heaped on J&K in the last one year,” he wrote.
Omar Abdullah was released after eight months of detention in Srinagar on March 24. Days before that, his father and former Union Minister Farooq Abdullah was also released from house arrest.
Mehbooba Mufti continues to remain in detention.
Writing in response to the narratives spread by the Indian media post abrogation, Omar wrote, “it was alleged that Article 370 has fuelled separatism and allowed militant violence to thrive in Kashmir. If that be the case, then why is it that almost a year later the same Union government is forced to tell the Supreme Court that violence in J&K is increasing?”
“Article 370 has kept the people of J&K in poverty was another claim. Even a cursory glance at poverty figures would show that J&K has some of the lowest levels of poverty in the country,” he wrote.
Omar Abdullah also wrote about his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi days before the abrogation of Aticle 370.
“It’s not a meeting I will forget in a hurry. One day I may write about it but propriety precludes me from saying more than that we left the meeting with a completely different impression about what was going to unfold in the next 72 hours.”
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