Leh uprising exposes how IIOJK feel betrayed: CM Omar
Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said that the uprising in Leh, Ladakh, should serve as an eye-opener for New Delhi on how people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir feel over the denial of statehood.
According to Kashmir Media Service, reacting to the killings and injuries in Indian firing on protesters in Leh, Omar said that Ladakh had not even been promised statehood when it was separated as a Union Territory in 2019, yet the people there now feel “betrayed and angry.” He said this sentiment was far stronger in Jammu and Kashmir where the promise of statehood remains unfulfilled despite repeated assurances.
“Now try to imagine how betrayed and disappointed we in J&K feel when the promise of statehood remains unfulfilled even though we have gone about demanding it democratically, peacefully, and responsibly,” Omar wrote on his X handle.
Talking to reporters in Srinagar, Omar said the people of Kashmir cannot be punished for the BJP’s electoral defeat in the last Assembly elections. He said New Delhi itself had told the Supreme Court that restoration of statehood would follow delimitation and elections. “It was the BJP’s bad luck that they could not win. But this cannot be used as an excuse to deny Kashmir its statehood,” he added.
He stressed that only the BJP is opposing the restoration of statehood and called it an injustice to the people of the territory.
On another issue, Omar strongly defended the right of people to write “I Love Muhammad (SAW),” saying it was neither unlawful nor provocative. He said similar expressions of faith are freely displayed by people of other religions, including Hindus and Sikhs, and should not be criminalized. “If writing about Bhagwan is not against the law, then how does writing ‘I Love Muhammad’ (SAW) become unlawful?” he asked.
The Chief Minister said that attempts to create controversies over such expressions were illogical and only revealed a communal mindset.
