While addressing a hurriedly-called press conference here at which he refused to take any questions, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah lashed out at the PDP for charging him with murder.
“People should appreciate that I ordered a probe against my own party colleague and handed him over to the police. I’ve spared no effort to find out how my party worker died,” the chief minister added and threatened to file a defamation case against those holding him responsible for Syed Muhammad Yusuf Shah’s death.
The chief minister said, “My lawyers will respond to such allegations through notice and take the case to its logical conclusion.”
Reacting to this, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti said, “The PDP is not targeting Omar, he is free to sue me.”
The chief minister said that he was eagerly waiting for the constitution of a judicial commission of inquiry headed by a sitting judge of high court to enquire into the incident. “I will have no hesitation in presenting myself before this commission. I will answer whatever questions are posed to me and I’ve no doubt that as a result of this judicial commission of inquiry the facts will speak themselves and all the lies that I’ve been bombarded since Friday of last week will be shown as absolute lies and beneath contempt,” he said.
Mr Abdullah reiterated that instead of appreciated the fact that he had taken suo moto action on serious allegations of corruption against an individual associated with the ruling party, it has been suggested that he or his colleagues have been involved in criminal activity “to the extent that certain supposedly responsible political leaders have gone so far as to suggest that I have been involved in a case of murder”.