It is now official. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his wife Payal have separated.
“While it is true my wife and I have separated, the speculation about motives and about my future course of action are unfounded, untrue and deeply hurtful to all concerned,” the 41-year-old Omar said in a statement issued in Srinagar on Thursday.
He was clearly referring to media reports suggesting that he was planning to remarry and that supposedly his choice was a high-profile TV anchor, a Kashmiri Pandit and a divorcee; or the sister of state’s minister of state for home and tourism Nasir Aslam Wani, a choice preferred by his father Union Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah and his party,
Also rumours doing the rounds in Kashmir for the past few weeks purport that Payal was seeking divorce on the ground of morality as she had accused her husband of 17 years of adultery. In this context, an alleged ‘not so decent encounter’ between the Chief Minister and Wani’s America-returned relative at the Dachigam sanctuary on the outskirts of Srinagar City and to which Payal is said to be a chance witness and Omar’s proximity with the TV anchor are being repeatedly mentioned. While an aide of the Chief Minister termed such talk as rubbish and nonsense and alleged his political opponents could be behind the “monkey business,” Omar said “I’ve seen with dismay and anguish the growing tide of speculation in the media about my private life and the status of my marriage.”
He added, “The stories about my remarriage are completely false, concocted. It’s a pity, while repeating these, no effort was made to ask me whether any of this is true…In the process a lot of people have been hurt.” He pointed out that the media in India has a well established, undeclared, code of conduct that keeps the private lives of public figures by and large private.
“I believe my family and I are entitled to that privacy. At this point my concern has to and will remain my young sons who do not deserve to see themselves splashed across the news channels and pages of newspapers in this manner. I’m sure you will all appreciate that while my private life has gone through a period of unprecedented upheaval I have not allowed it to affect my work in any way.”
The Chief Minister said that it was with this in mind that he makes “a humble appeal” to the media to “please allow my family and me the space and privacy to deal with what we are going through.” He said he and his family will not be issuing any more statements or taking any further questions on the issue and that he hopes the media will respect this decision.
Payal, who is a Sikh by faith and daughter of a retired Army general, had continued to live in Delhi with their sons Zahir and Zamir for the past few years. Omar has been for the past few months studiously avoiding their Akbar Road residence during the course of his visits to Delhi, preferring instead to stay at Farooq Abdullah’s Safdarjung residence, or at J&K House on 5, Prithiviraj Road, sections of which were supposedly refurbished for his stay. Omar chose not to visit them when a few months ago Payal and their sons escaped narrowly when they met with an accident while rafting in a mountain stream in Himachal Pradesh.