SRINAGAR: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said PDP president Mehbooba Mufti had not apologised for her remarks but had only expressed regret, drawing a distinction between the two.
Omar said Mehbooba had not used the word “apology” in her statement.
“She expressed regret. Did she use the word ‘apology’? No. Then where is the apology? You people are intelligent enough to understand the difference between regret and apology,” he said.
“There is a world of difference between saying, ‘I regret’ and saying, ‘I apologise.’ She merely said that ‘if anyone was hurt by what I said.’ The moment you add ‘if,’ it means you are not really apologising,” he added.
The Chief Minister also targeted those who, according to him, had defended Mehbooba Mufti’s remarks over the past five days.
“And what should we say about those who tried to suppress the issue for five days, those who spread falsehoods, and whose lies were exposed today by Mehbooba Ji herself?” he said.
Referring to a PDP MLA, Omar said, “There is one responsible MLA—what happened now? Should he continue as an MLA? His own party president has exposed his lie. For five days he kept claiming that the video was AI-generated. Today, Mehbooba Ji herself said there was nothing AI-generated about it; she said those words herself.”
Omar said that while Mehbooba had at least spoken of expressing regret, those who, according to him, had misled the public should also do the same.
“Fine, she at least spoke of expressing regret. But the person who spent five days misleading people should also express regret—even if not an apology. After all, the PDP only talks about regret; it never talks about apology,” he said.
On the issue of the signing death certificate of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat, Omar reiterated, “As for the certificate, I also say the same thing—no one here had signed that certificate.”
Omar also responded to Mehbooba Mufti’s support for a proposed state-wide protest on August 5, saying the PDP was free to hold protests whenever it wanted.
“Who stopped the PDP from protesting? When Mehbooba Mufti had the opportunity to protest at Jantar Mantar, she said, ‘Aise bantahai.’ They are free to do whatever they want,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the National Conference would announce its next programme in due course.
“You wait. We will let you know what our next programme will be,” he said.
Blaming the PDP for the current political situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar said, “We have reached this point because of them. Had they not brought the BJP into power, we would not be in this situation today.”
He added, “Now, if they have realised their mistake and want to correct it, then that is a very good thing.”
Earlier, Omar Abdullah termed the mega job fair organised by Cluster University Srinagar in collaboration with Lovely Professional University as a significant initiative to tackle unemployment.
“This was the first initiative of its kind by Cluster University Srinagar in a joint effort with Lovely Professional University, Punjab. More than 60 recruiting companies participated, including firms from Jammu and Kashmir, across the country and some with offices abroad,” he said.
The Chief Minister said around 5,300 youth had registered for the job fair.
“Nearly 470 candidates were recruited on the spot, while around 430 have been shortlisted. They will now go through an interview process, and we hope they too will receive recruitment orders. Out of 5,300 applicants, nearly 900 have either been recruited or shortlisted. That, in itself, is a very encouraging achievement,” he said.
Expressing hope that similar initiatives would continue, Omar said, “We hope such mega job fairs are organised more frequently because our effort is to reduce unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir as much as possible.”
