Hard to accept Art 370 move: Omar

SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and vice president of the National Conference Omar Abdullah has said that it is hard to accept the current reality of the erstwhile state and move on from “what was done to J&K” on August 5, 2019.

In an interview to The Wire, Omar said, “It is not easy to reconcile myself with to what was done to J&K. It is not about my detention only… it is the injustice that I saw happening to J&K on the 5th of August and subsequent things after that. It is difficult to come to terms with that.”

Sharing the interview on Twitter, Omar wrote, “Reflection, introspection & doubt are part of what make us human. Part of being true to myself includes being truthful about myself. Life goes on & as I often remind myself ‘after all, tomorrow is another day.”

The Bharatiya Janata Partyled central government on August 5, 2019, effectively abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, stripping J&K of its special status and split the erstwhile state into two Union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Ahead of the move, the region was put under months of lockdown and several mainstream leaders, including Omar, were put under house arrest. He was released from detention seven months later on March 24, 2020.

In the interview, Omar said that since his release from detention, he was finding it far more difficult to motivate himself to indulge in political activities. “I am a deeply jaded, disappointed individual today. I wasn’t this person before August 2019,” he said.

“So how I view my political future is far less to do with how I view PM Narendra Modi’s future. It has a lot more to do with how I view what has happened to me and Jammu and Kashmir for the last 16-18 months. It does not fill me with any degree of enthusiasm or motivation,” he said.