Omar slams PDP govt for Kashmir turmoil

Srinagar: Opposition NC leader Omar Abdullah today lashed out at ruling PDP for the current volatile situation in Kashmir and its “reign of terror and repression” in the valley.

Omar criticised Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for underplaying the “bloodshed and atrocities” being committed upon the people, saying “the 2016 killings, blindings and maiming of youth are unparallelled in the history of Kashmir”.

“What Kashmiris underwent in 2016 or are facing now is beyond comprehension and expression,” the former chief minister said while campaigning for his father, the National Conference candidate, Farooq Abdullah in Srinagar parliamentary constituency.

He said PDP had pushed Kashmiri youth to the wall and robbed them of an opportunity to live with peace and dignity.

Omar said the anti-people policies of the PDP-BJP dispensation have brought Kashmir to the volatile crossroads of history where nothing is visible except uncertainty, fear and harassment.

“The scenario across the Valley is so grim that the people are apprehensive about their safety with economic activity and development coming to grinding halt,” he said adding the spree of arrests has further vitiated the atmosphere.

He said the current insensitive dispensation has exposed people to administrative inertia, as a result of which they were suffering on all fronts.

Omar asked the PDP as to what happened to “lofty promises” of jobs for youth, repealing Armed Forces Special Powers Act, ensuring round-the-clock drinking water and power supply and “above all resolving the political problem of Kashmir”.

“Yes, if PDP can take credit for anything, it is strengthening of the unbridled forces with additional 5,000 pellet guns and 7 lakh pellets to target Kashmiri youth,” he added.

—PTI