‘Half statehood to J&K against idea of two systems in one country’
Srinagar: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that having an assembly in the Union Territory is a hybrid system and that the country should either have only states or only UTs.
He also said that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is not organic, but driven out of fear.
In a programme, ‘Ummedu Ka Jammu Kashmir’ by ‘THE RED MIKE DIALOGUES With Omar Abdullah’, the Chief Minister, said that he wishes to have a J&K with peace, and communal harmony.
About the statehood restoration with half powers, he said, “There is no model in India where you have a full state without all powers. So unless you are envisaging a situation where J&K would be treated uniquely, I don’t see how this will work, if you plan to treat JK uniquely then please explain what August 5, 2019 was about. If I am not mistaken, all of those were saying that JK has been brought at par with the rest of the country.”
“The whole idea was that you can’t have two systems in one country, if it is one country with one system then how can you now propose a new system just of JK. You have to treat us at par.”
“If what is happening today in JK today is organic nothing like it, if it is driven out of fear then you have a problem, because you can only control a situation out of fear for a limited time, if it is organic then it will remain forever. But I will hazard that the forces and the people who you talk to in JK, even they don’t believe it is organic, they wouldn’t have closed Jama Masjid for Mirwaiz to offer his father-in-law’s funeral prayers,” he said.
“Law and order doesn’t break out when normalcy is organic, but it happens when it is forced. It is not organic normalcy in JK but it is forced and this is because you are trying to run JK through the second model you are proposing where governance would not have a role in law and order and security. I will hazard that there are limitations to the second model that you are proposing because you will never be able to carry the population as the partners for normalcy unless the elected government is part of the paradigm,” the Chief Minister said.
About his statement on Article370 judgement, he said that he has made it clear that the top court has already given the decision in favour of Article 370 in the past and now that the verdict has been given against it, then there are expectations for a favourable decision again.
He added that the removal of Article 370 has not made any visible changes in Jammu and Kashmir, adding that the situation is not normal as the terrorist incidents are still there.
He added that he is not disagreeing with the statistics as during his tenure, the trend of militancy related incidents, recruitment and other related things had also gone down in the past. “The progress has not been made due to the removal of Article 370. It is because the Centre took measures which J&K government would have never taken,” he said, adding, “Removal of Article 370 has had no impact on improvement on the security situations. That is because of the territory under President’s rule and it is how you handled the security forces.”
“The officers I am working with have not been appointed by me. They will listen to those who have the right to remove or appoint them,” he said when asked whether the officers are listening to the elected government. “There should be either UTs or States only. If it is UT then there should be no assembly, don’t make the hybrid system,” he said.
He also said that he does not have a nature to make excuses; they (officers) are not doing and listening to us.
He also said that Amit Shah is the Union Home Minister and meeting him was nothing unusual. “When I met Chidmabaram and other HMs in the past, nobody talked about it, you cannot work without the support of the Centre.”
He also said that the Centre has not kept any way for the confrontation, they are supporting the elected government in any way, they have promised the restoration of statehood restoration, “but if they change their stance, then we will also change our approach.”
About the Prime Minister Narendra Modi nominating him for his obesity campaign, he said had there been a chief minister, who has completed a half marathon then he would have stated that there was injustice with him. “Obesity is not a political problem. It is a social problem,” he said.
About INDIA block, he said, “We have been fighting against each other very much. INDIA bloc should decide its role. If it is for the Lok Sabha polls only then we should wind it up and form it again in the next parliamentary polls. But there is a need to fight joint assembly polls too. In J&K we barely managed to save the alliance and till the end, it was not showing any signs of going for the polls jointly. When we were discussing the seat sharing with Congress, we were not ready to reduce our numbers as we were sure that we would manage to secure this number of seats.”
He also said that the Congress has willingly decided to stay away from the cabinet as JKPCC Chief had told him during the swearing-in ceremony that they will not be a part of the government till the statehood is restored. However, he said that a space in the cabinet has been kept for them.
Asked whether the INDIA bloc is dead, he said, “No, we still have a sizable number in parliament. Whether we are able to deliver or not is a different question, but this government depends on alliance. Therefore, as long as the INDIA bloc is able to deliver, it is not dead.”
About the restoration of statehood, he said that he is not waiting for five years, but expecting the restoration for statehood this year only. The discussion is going on, he said. He said they have plan B and plan C. “But, I am not going to sit here and say we will do this and that if we don’t get statehood by this date. I am assuming that the government has said that it is committed to restore it, SC has also asked for the complete statehood restoration a year ago. I think as soon as possible and at earliest qualify for some time in the next few months.
Omar also reacted to the query over the expectations of the people on his first budget, saying that from this budget, whatever they have promised, they will start delivering it.
He also said that the government led by him in Jammu and Kashmir has started providing employment to the people and said that they will discuss the number of employment in detail and that they will raise this issue during the time of elections. “I have provided appointment letters to the doctors and panchayat secretaries,” he said when asked about the PM providing job letters to youth.
He also reacted to the question on direct train services and people’s apprehensions, highlighting the public grievances from Jammu in this regard, who feared that the Katra station would neglect Jammu.
“It is for the first time after his grandfather that there is no coalition pressure and the CM his Dy are from the same party. My government has been addressing the concerns of people by ensuring the cabinet members from different divisions and communities”
About Ladakh, Omar said, “I am sorry, but ladakh has been betrayed. We were asking people there to think before raising the demand of becoming UT. We were telling them that the resolution of their grievances would not come by making Ladakh UT.”
Replying to a query about alcohol ban and signature campaign by PDP leaders, he said they will remind PDP about what they did on alcohol ban during their tenure. “At present, the Speaker has directed not to talk about the bills that have not been admitted yet. We will talk in the assembly,” he said
However, he said that if they had to talk about it then they could have mentioned it in their manifesto. “Let it be brought to the assembly, we will discuss it there.”
Asked whether his government is taking measures for the return of Kashmiri Pandits, he asked how many have been brought back to the Valley after the removal of Article 370. “We have seen targeted attacks against minorities. We can only expect to do something about their return as a state. We will do everything to get their sense of security back for their return,” he added.
About one nation, one-election, he said that it can save money, but he doesn’t see how practically it is possible. He added that after the parliamentary elections were held, only one meeting of the INDIA bloc was held since then. We should at least discuss these issues.
Asked about the rigging of elections in Jammu and Kashmir, he said, “If I am elected through robbery then what is the reason for me to sit on the chair of CM. Show me one single person, who has said that there was rigging. Compared to other places, J&K has not seen even a single re-poll. I have never complained of rigging and fault in machines even if I lost.”
He also said that there is a difference between Vajpayee and Modi as Vajpayee didn’t remove Article 370, he talked about Insaniyat, and even stated that the neighbours can’t be changed.
He also said that the security to Mirwaiz is again an indicator that things are not normal. “If you need to protect Mirwaiz from the CRPF then how can you claim normalcy? It means the threat to Mirwaiz has increased not decreased, it means that the ability of militants to strike has gone up not down. The fact that the Mirwaiz had to be protected from the same commandos that protect your national leaders like Home Minister and Rahul Gandhi and others would suggest to you that the security situation in JK is far from normal. We didn’t give him CRPF during my rule, we protected him by Police.”
He also stated that there is a fight for the new leaders in PDP, and that anyone who wants to contest the elections should come, which is the beauty of democracy.
He added that JK has the highest unemployment compared to other places. The centre has failed to achieve the goal by abrogating Article 370 as despite the untrue claims, there is no visible change after it on the ground.
