Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday did some plain speaking and opened his heart to let “particular category” of leaders know why people of the state feel themselves separate from those in rest of the country. That, of course, without actually naming anyone but he was obviously referring to the BJP leadership and like-minded politicians.
“There is need for a definite change in the mindset of a particular category of national leaders vis-à-vis the treatment meted out to Jammu and Kashmir. They have been discriminatory and show complete duplicity in their approach towards the issues like Kishtwar,” he said here after unfurling the tricolour at an Independence Day function. He added, “You treat similar incidents in rest of the country differently and in Jammu and Kashmir differently.”
Mr Abdullah reiterated, “It is most unfortunate on the part of these leaders to single out Jammu and Kashmir and show biased approach while dealing with similar matters differently in other parts of the country.” He said that he was once asked why people of Jammu and Kashmir think themselves different from the rest of the country and away from the mainstream. “I got the reply to this question by the approach and treatment shown by these national leaders regarding Kishtwar incident,” he said. He added, “In fact, it is you people who treat our state and its people differently.”
He asserted that “different and biased way” of treating Jammu and Kashmir by these national leaders “is amply visible by their reaction vis-à-vis Kishtwar incident and those taking place elsewhere in the country”. He said that Kishtwar like clashes between Hindu and Muslim groups claimed 34 lives in UP, 13 in Maharashtra, 15 in Madhya Pradesh, 3 in Karnataka, 6 in Rajasthan, 5 in Gujarat in 2012 and again 8 in Maharashtra, one in MP, 2 in Rajasthan and 2 in Gujarat in 2013 besides some more deaths in Bihar recently. He asked these national leaders as to why they didn’t show any concern over these incidents.