J&K crisis only worsened after 2019, laments Omar

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and leader of National Conference (NC) Omar Abdullah asserted on Monday that the situation in the erstwhile state only deteriorated in many ways after August 5, 2019 when the Centre abrogated Article 370 and bifurcated J&K.

He alleged, “The development in J&K is visible only on social media hashtags, paid government advertisements and sponsored news. The only discernible change one sees on the ground is the everincreasing gap between the administration and the people”.

While speaking at a party workers’ convention in frontier district of Kupwara, Abdullah said, “Our state was split, our Constitution discarded, our Legislative Council was abolished. The J & K cadre of All India Services officers was disbanded and merged with the AGMUT cadre. All this was done citing that Article 370 is the root cause of all evils plaguing the state”.

He alleged that the constitutional guarantees for J&K were eroded and Articles 370 and 35A’s abrogation was made a perfect pretext for rescinding J&K’s constitutional status.

“All we are asking is that where is the much-touted change? A new dawn is arising, we were told.

Where is it? Where is that era of development, investment, job extravaganza and inclusion that we were promised, beckons us? It was said that whenever accountability was sought local politicians took shelter behind Article 370”, he said.

The NC leader said that the people of J&K are in trouble and desperate for good governance.

“Bureaucracy is out of touch with people. Civil administration has taken a direct hit because of a new undemocratic project that is in place in J&K,” he alleged adding that a change in the composition of the civil services after disbanding JK cadre has only deepened the administrative inertia in the region.