Former Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah on Friday said militancy in Kashmir was reviving in areas where his government eradicated it.
“People from minorities, police personnel and civilians are being targeted and killed. It’s sad that innocent people are getting killed and targeted in crossfire. We were told Article 370 was the reason for separatist mentality. Over two and a half years have passed, the situation is yet to improve. Militancy has revived in areas like Srinagar and parts of north Kashmir, where we eradicated it,” Mr. Abdullah said in Jammu.
Assembly elections should be announced, else “they [the Central government] should admit that the situation is worse than 1996.” “There were times between 1990 and 1996 when had no elections” he stated.
‘No normalcy’
Mr. Abdullah warned not to describe the increased number of flights and tourism as a sign of normality. “Normalcy is when there is no scare or fear. People living even in areas like uptown in Srinagar are not feeling safe,” he claimed. He accused the J&K delimitation commission of demarcating the Assembly and Lok Sabha seats with “a political consideration”.
“The Assembly segments of Nowshera being added to the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat and Kalakote to the Jammu seat makes no sense, given their locations. Even the population as a criteria does not favour six seats for Jammu and one for Kashmir. The way new boundaries have been drawn is to benefit a particular party in Jammu and its partners in Kashmir,” he added.
