Having been a member of the most empowered Assembly in the land and that, too, as leader of that Assembly for six years, I simply cannot and will not be a member of a House that has been disempowered the way ours has: Vice president of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference breaks his silence.
However, Omar, a former union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, made it clear he would keep on to work for his party National Conference (NC) and people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Last year on August 5, in an unforgettable move, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre abolished Article 370 of the Constitution to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status. The state was also separated into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Strongly critical of the dilution of Article 370 of the Constitution, Abdullah said many reasons had been given to justify the abrogation of the provision that granted special status and claimed that none of those stand any scrutiny.
“It is not a threat or blackmail, it’s not a display of me sulking. It’s just a simple acknowledgement that I won’t fight an election to lead the Union Territory assembly which is such a disempowered assembly,” mentioned Omar Abdullah.
The abolition of Article 370 was assumed to end terrorism but the government had been telling the Supreme Court that violence in Jammu and Kashmir was increasing, he said.
Omar was released after 234 days in detention under the Public Safety Act, on past March 24. He was put under house arrest on the intervening night of August 4-5, along with all top leaders of the state.
