Srinagar: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said he has no objections if the Legislative Assembly has to be dissolved and fresh elections are to be conducted after statehood is restored to Jammu and Kashmir.
“I have read in a newspaper that statehood will be restored but assembly elections would have to be held afresh. Let them do it, who has stopped them,” Abdullah told reporters at Gulmarg, 52 kilometres from here.
Abdullah, who was sworn in as the first chief minister of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in October last year, said that statehood is the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“I know where the story has come from. I know who planted the story in a newspaper here…. it was planted only to scare the MLAs. This statehood is not for any MLA or the government. This statehood is for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and we MLAs will not be an obstacle in it.
“If the MLAs are being threatened with the dissolution of the Assembly for the restoration of statehood, then do it. The day the state is established again, the next day we will go to the governor and recommend the dissolution of the Assembly. Don’t try to scare us … statehood is our right and give it (back) to us. Stop planting stories in newspapers, it won’t work,” he added.
He also said there was “no local involvement” in the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed, asserting that all the assailants were foreign nationals.
Omar said this two days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) made its first major breakthrough in the case by arresting two local residents — Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar — for allegedly harbouring the terrorists responsible for the April 22 attack, which also left 16 tourists grievously injured.
NIA on Sunday said the two accused have disclosed the identities of the three armed terrorists involved in the attack, and have also confirmed that they were Pakistani nationals affiliated to the proscribed terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
The biggest thing is that there was no local involvement. The gunmen who shot the 26 people were all foreigners,” Omar told reporters in tourist resort of Gulmarg.
He said the NIA during the investigation arrested two people for helping the attackers.
He, however, stressed that the duo might have been coerced into helping the militants.
“And maybe the NIA also said that they were forced to help them. Now, let the investigation continue. After that, the charges will be presented to the NIA,” he said.
On Monday, the NIA said it has gathered a substantial body of evidence regarding the identities of terrorists involved in the attack based on eyewitness accounts from victims, video footages, technical evidence and even the sketches earlier released by Jammu and Kashmir Police.
The NIA said the identities and further details of the terrorists will be made public at an appropriate time.
