Had Article 370 stayed, PoK may have sought to rejoin J&K: Omar Abdullah

SRINAGAR: J&K CM Omar Abdullah credited Kashmiris with fighting the 1947 tribal invasion before Indian troops arrived and said people across the LoC might have been protesting to rejoin J&K today had Centre not revoked Article 370 in 2019.Speaking at an Independence Day event Saturday, Omar paid tribute to his grandfather and National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, portraying his role in resisting the Pakistan-backed tribal invasion as central to J&K’s history.“Before Indian Army reached here, it was the people of J&K who fought the tribal invaders, who fought the infiltrators sent from across, who fought the soldiers sent from across,” Omar said. “Thousands of brave people” sacrificed their lives, he said.Omar’s remarks came as his govt continues to press for restoration of J&K’s statehood, while Sheikh Abdullah’s legacy remains a political fault line after the abrogation of Article 370.Recent unrest in PoK sharpened Omar’s argument. “When I see the situation today across the LoC, I realise that the decision taken by our leaders 80 years ago for us was the right decision,” Omar said, underscoring Sheikh Abdullah preferring India’s secular ideals over Pakistan and supporting J&K’s accession in 1947.Pakistani security firing has killed dozens following protests demanding abolition of 12 seats in the 53-member PoK assembly reserved for refugees from J&K who settled there after 1947. Protesters say the seats let Pakistani parties wield influence in PoK.Omar said the condition of PoK made him wonder what might have happened had J&K’s situation not changed in 2019. “Perhaps… people of that part of J&K would be protesting to rejoin us today,” he said. “That part of J&K Kashmir is ours. We consider those people as our own. No one is a stranger. No one is an outsider.”Omar also made federalism a central plank of his speech. “Federalism suffers when central agencies start interfering in the affairs of the states,” he said. Restoring J&K’s statehood should be part of a broader effort to strengthen all states rather than federalism being reduced to “only words”, he added.

Omar also criticised NEET and JEE, saying states had lost their right to conduct admissions to their medical and engineering colleges. National examinations made sense for national institutions such as IITs, IIMs and NIFT, but state institutions should retain the right to conduct exams and grant admissions, he said.