Malik Sameed
At a time when the entire valley of Kashmir is burning with pain and chaos, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has assailed the state government over its alleged highhandedness.
National Conference Working President Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the mass crackdown and unabated repression of civilians in Kashmir was unprecedented and seemed like an institutional effort to punish people for the current unrest.
In a statement, the former chief minister said it was imprudent for the State Government to expect that nocturnal raids, PSAs, burning crops and fodder and destroying electric transformers would somehow lead to sustainable peace and normalcy.
Omar strongly added that –“Cannot burn crops and fodder and destroy transformers and then expect peace and reconciliation”.
Omar said persecuting people of Kashmir based on a flawed assumption that such measures would somehow arm-twist people into peace and political adherence is a dangerous policy.
“New Delhi accepted that dialogue is the answer to the simmering discontent in Kashmir and their current assumption that the agitation can be seen off by tiring people is fraught with enormous risks because when the fatigue wears out – as it eventually will, the agitation will spark off again. To deal with Kashmir as cyclic problem of agitations and managing agitations defies the overarching interests of peace and prosperity”, he added.
