J&K special status under attack whenever NC not in power: Omar

Abdullah, a former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, alleged that the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) was a thought-out match fixing between BJP and PDP to help the saffron party save its face value in rest of the country and also help the Mehbooba-led party to milk the situation here in Kashmir.

“Even today, forces inimical to state’s unique status are trying their level best to weaken state's identity and integrity. Time bears testimony to the fact that whenever NC was not in power; the state’s special status was ruthlessly fiddled with,” Abdullah said while addressing a public gathering at Damhal Hanji Pura in south Kashmir district of Kulgam.

He said ‘NC’s absence from power corridors gave a field day to the forces as they have shown consternation to our special constitutional position all along.

“We will not talk of past decades. Goods and Services Tax (GST) was extended to state at a time when we were not in power. The investigation by National Investigation Agency (NIA) is going on again when we were not in power. Moreover JeI stands banned today as well at a time when National Conference is not in power,” he said.

Abdullah said all through his stint as chief minister, he never felt the need to ban JeI.

“In 2010 when the situation was tumultuous, we brought the situation to normalcy, but we didn’t ban JeI. Their schools and other institutions kept running,” he said.

Hitting out at PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, Abdullah said: “Nowadays, she is saying she too might be arrested. What will she be arrested for? This assertion hints towards some tacit match fixing between BJP and PDP. We in Kashmir have been hearing a lot about match fixing.”

“I feel that the ban on JeI is thought-out match fixing between BJP and PDP to help BJP save its face value in the rest of the country and also help PDP milk the situation here in Kashmir. Nobody is going to be arrested. People are now privy to such election gimmicks and political tears as are only seen in their eyes at the time of elections,” he said.

“We didn’t see them in tears in 2016. At that time she mocked the miseries of people with her ‘milk and toffee comments’. It is the same Ms Mehbooba who refused to recompense the person who was used as human shield, given the fact that state human rights commission had recommended a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the victim. Where was her sympathy then? Case against Mirwaiz was registered in 2017; it didn’t happen in my tenure as chief minister, neither during my father’s. It was she who unleashed plethora of miseries on people in the shape of decreasing the quota of ration, implementation of GST, use of pellet guns, and what not,” he added.

Abdullah alleged that the state would not have plunged into chaos had PDP not hobnobbed with BJP.

“She didn’t care about the repercussions of joining hands with BJP. The only thing she had in mind was to save her party from disintegration. Had she not joined hands with BJP-RSS, Kashmir and it’s people wouldn’t have been subject to what we are going through right now. Today RSS takes out procession in the broad day light flaunting weapons. Who is responsible for it? Who helped them make inroads into the state?” he asked.

Image: UNI