Srinagar: Former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday set out from his home on foot to reach the party office here after police allegedly denied him escort vehicles and ITBP personnel cover.
Abdullah, the vice president of the National Conference (NC), was scheduled to address a function at the party headquarters, Nawa-i-Subah, to pay homage to 22 Kashmiri people who were killed by the army of a Dogra ruler on this day in 1931.
He alleged the Jammu and Kashmir Police denied him his security escort vehicles and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) cover to visit the party headquarters.
There was no immediate reaction from the police.
Unfazed by the alleged denial, Abdullah set out to the office near Zero Bridge — around one kilometre from his residence in the Gupkar area — on foot. A handful of his special security group personnel — a wing of J-K Police responsible for guarding VVIPs — walked along with him.
The former J-K chief minister took to Twitter and posted a video of his walk.
“Dear @JmuKmrPolice don’t think that refusing to give me my escort vehicles & ITBP cover will stop me. I’ll walk to where I have to get to & that’s exactly what I’m doing now,” Abdullah wrote on Twitter.
After reaching office, where party leaders and activists were waiting for him, the NC vice president said the “police would now send everything” for his security.
“Now that I’ve got to the office & will go ahead with my programme you will send everything. The fact is @JmuKmrPolice has stopped a lot of my senior colleagues from coming to the @JKNC_ office today by adopting the same tactics of stopping them in their homes. Notable amongst those stopped are Abdul Rahim Rather Sb, @AliMSagar_ Sb, Ali Mohd Dar Sb and others,” he said.
July 13 was a public holiday in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and a grand official function was held every year on this day where the chief minister or the governor would be the chief guest.
However, the governor administration dropped the day from the list of gazetted holidays in 2020, after the abrogation of Article 370 and splitting of the erstwhile state into two Union territories by the Centre on August 5, 2019.
Apart from the official function at the Martyrs’ graveyard in the city, mainstream political leaders also used to visit it to pay homage to the 22 Kashmiris who fell to the bullets of the Dogra army while protesting the autocratic rule of Maharaja Hari Singh.
However, there have been no official functions since 2018 when J-K went under the governor’s rule.
For these last few years, political parties have alleged their movement was restricted on the day and they were not allowed to visit the graveyard.
Speaking to reporters at his party office, Abdullah said he does not have a habit of creating a “drama” and he did not have any plans for a foot march.
“I wanted to come in vehicles. I do not have a habit of creating a drama. But, today they compelled me to come out of home and walk on foot, as they stopped all my vehicles, did not allow the security to move, because they did not want me to reach the office and pay homage to 13 July martyrs,” he said.
The NC vice president said if the authorities “do this regularly, I will have no other option than to take such steps”.
Asked about the cancellation of the July 13 holiday, Abdullah said when the government changes, such decisions can also be changed.
“Governments change, governments’ decisions change and the times change. Today, they have cancelled one holiday and added another one. But, no worries, these times will also change. The way they used the pen to cancel many holidays and added new ones, same way, when the new government comes, it will cancel many and add many others,” he said.
To a query that if a former chief minister had to experience such a behaviour, what can be expected about common people, Abdullah said “they cannot destroy our future anymore”.
“The issue (of revocation of Article 370) is in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has refused to listen to them. The CJI has said this in no uncertain terms that the political affidavit filed by the Centre will have any bearing on their decision. It is a good thing, they will continue with their lies, but their lies will have no impact,” he added.
Asked about the allegations by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti that the CJI Justice D Y Chandrachud and other judges were brought to Kashmir to showcase that everything was normal here, the NC leader said the situation in the valley was not normal.
Srinagar hosted the ’19th All India Legal Services Authorities’ meeting last month at SKICC.
“I know how the situation was then. Those living in Gupkar road area could not reach their homes as the road was closed. No one was allowed to move near the SKICC. The police personnel in training schools had been brought to the city to increase the deployment.
“The situation here is not normal. I will accept that the situation is normal when our LG reaches airport from the Raj Bhavan without stopping traffic anywhere. The situation is such that traffic is stopped 10-15 minutes before his cavalcade passes. Even when his empty cavalcade passes, when LG is not in the vehicle, traffic is stopped so that it reaches airport. Is this normal? I do not think so,” Abdullah said.
To a query about the reference to the religion of July 13 martyrs during his speech at the function, he said though it took him time, he has understood the “reality” of the BJP-led government.
“This is the reality. It took me time to understand I have also understood their reality,” he added.
Abdulah had said that had the July 13 victims been from any other community, then J-K LG Manoj Sinha would have paid homage to them.
He said there was a concerted effort to “distort” the history of the country, including J-K.
“There is an attempt to distort the history of India, why would they not try to distort the history of J-K. Look at the way entire text books are being changed, entire chapters are being deleted. The authors of those textbooks are now refusing to acknowledge that those books had anything to do with them.
“They (authors) want their names withdrawn from those textbooks because they do not want to be associated with those books. There is a concerted effort being made to rewrite the history of the Union, and in that obviously, there is an attempt to rewrite the history of J-K as well,” he said.

  Kashmir 370, KASHMIR HISTORY, Omar Abdullah

Press Trust of India