For J&K people, Oct 31 is a day of mourning: Omar

Srinagar, Oct 31  : National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah on Tuesday called 31 October as yet another dark patch in the history of J&K marking the illegal and unconstitutional infringement on the rights of its people, saying the party will fight the battle for the restoration of people’s rights peacefully and legally.

Terming Oct 31 as the day of mourning, Omar as per a statement issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said there is nothing to celebrate about the day.

“What’s there to celebrate about the day? Should we celebrate the downgrading of our state or snatching our democratic rights? In reality, today is a day of mourning and sorrow for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, today is a black day for us. Nothing has been done except humiliating our state by bifurcating it and then downgrading it to UT,” he said.

He made these comments while addressing a one-day party convention in Tangdhar on his two day tour of North Kashmir today. On this occasion, party treasurer Shammi Oberoi, provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani, senior leaders Chaudhry Muhammad Ramzan, Shariefuddin Shariq, Nazir Ahmed Khan Gurezi, Mir Saifullah, Qaiser Jamshed Lone, Javed Ahmed Dar, Kafeel Ul Rahman, Zahid Mughal, Waqar Khan and party functionaries were also present.

In his address Omar said, “Until we have honour, recognition, identity and dignity, everything else is meaningless. Today, we have no honour, no recognition of our rights, nor are our interests protected. We cannot walk with our heads up. When a special session of the Parliament is called,  people here get anxious thinking what the government is upto.”

On administrative disconnect with people in J&K, Omar said, “Common people are not heard in any government office, most of the officers are unable to understand our language. They do not understand our topography nor do they seem to be interested in it. At that time it was said that all our problems will be solved when we become a UT, but which problems were solved in 4 years; Which demand was granted?”

“LG claims that investment of 90 thousand crores has come to J&K. It should be summarized where the investments are being made, who is working on it? Here, our contracts are being given to outsiders. The sand is ours, the stones are ours, the land is ours but the outsiders are the beneficiaries,” he further added.

He said that the government is very well aware of the catastrophic drug addiction problem in J&K but someone is turning a blind eye so that this drug business goes on.

Omar said that former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said that friends can be changed but not neighbours and we have to develop relations with our neighbouring countries but when we talk about living in peace, we are mocked.

Describing the suspension of cross-border communication as tantamount to punishing the people, he said that the families who were separated used to meet each other through Teetwal, Poonch Rawalakot and Uri Muzaffarabad routes. “Who was harmed by this immigration, what was the reason why these roads were closed and the people here were punished,” he said.

He said that we cannot fight this fight alone. “It requires the cooperation of the people because we get strength and courage from the people, I hope workers of the National Conference will reach more people here,” he said—(KNO)