Lies peddled to incite hatred: Omar Abdullah

Kulgam, Mar 18: National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah Friday hit out at the filmmakers of ‘The Kashmir Files’ movie and said lies had been peddled to incite hatred against Kashmiri Muslims.

“I fear that the young students from Kashmir may be targeted due to hatred incited against the entire Muslim community of Kashmir. Some of those students in their twenties were not even born in 1990. They are being made vulnerable. If that happens anywhere, the Center has to take the blame for it,” Abdullah told media persons on the sidelines of a rally held on the death anniversary of NC leader Wali Muhamad Itoo who was assassinated by gunmen in the 1990s.

   

“Many lies have been projected in the movie. The one among them is that NC was in power then. The fact of the matter is that it was the Governor’s rule in Kashmir when Pandits were displaced from here. At the Center, it was VP Singh-led Jan Morcha coalition government backed by Bharatiya Janata Party. Why have not they shown that in the movie?” he said.

Abdullah said that this debunks the claim of filmmakers that it was based on reality and was not a documentary.

“Not only one community sacrificed here. Did Kashmir Muslims or Kashmiri Sikhs not die? If the Pandits were rendered homeless we understand their plight but ordinary Kashmiri has no role in it. Even Sikhs and Muslims were displaced and some of them have not even returned yet. Are we paving the way for the return of displaced Pandits by inciting this hatred,” the former chief minister said.

He said that till NC was there it would live up to the promise of its founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah’s slogan Hindu-Muslim-Sikh unity.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks ‘Dil Ki Doori Aur Dilli Ki Doori’ made during the All-Party Meeting last year, he said, “There is an attempt to defame every Kashmiri Muslim.”

Abdullah recalled the measures he took during his stint in power for the return of Pandits including building residential quarters for them.

On the delimitation panel, he said that the commission had not applied mind while carving out the new seats or merging a few with others.

“This seems a design to ensure the victory of BJP in assembly elections and then pass a resolution in favour of the unpopular decision made on August 5, 2019,” Abdullah said.

He said that his party was fighting for the restoration of the special status of J&K using all legal means.

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