Srinagar, June 05: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday proposed suspending party identities and launching a collective democratic movement for restoration of rights of the rights of people of Jammu & Kashmir.
Speaking at The Hindu Huddle, the CM, Omar said “If everyone is sincere, let us suspend political parties and stand together on one movement platform. We should fight democratically and peacefully until the constitutional rights and protections taken away in 2019 are restored.”
The CM said he would be willing to make personal political sacrifices if such a united movement emerged.”I will be the first one to resign. Let representatives come from a common movement platform,” he said.
He stressed that any effort to regain rights must be consistent and not limited to symbolic gestures.
“People will call it a drama if there is no sincerity and continuity. It cannot be a one-off exercise. Continuous efforts are needed to build public trust,” he said.
The CM said there were efforts in different parts of the country to radicalise youngsters on religious lines and warned that such trends could have wider consequences.
“When you see an effort to radicalise youngsters, particularly in the north of the country, on religious lines, at the behest of our ruling party, you cannot expect there will be no knock-on effect elsewhere,” he said.
The National Conference leader said the notion that every young Muslim, particularly every young Kashmiri Muslim, was inclined towards militancy was incorrect.
“There are elements trying to radicalise youngsters, but this propaganda that every young Muslim Kashmiri boy is a jihadi looking to pick up a gun and murder innocent people could not be further from the truth,” he said.
Referring to the April 2025 Pahalgam attack, he said the subsequent investigation did not identify local Kashmiri youth among the attackers.
“After the investigation was concluded and the people behind the attack were identified, not one of the attackers was a local Kashmiri boy. They were all from outside Jammu and Kashmir,” he said, adding that one local individual was accused of providing support under coercion.
He said attempts to project Kashmiri youth as “radicalised” and “gun-toting” were aimed at creating a false impression about an entire generation—(KNO)
