Jammu: The unprecedented and spontaneous public outrage in Jammu and Kashmir over the Pahalgam terror attack has offered a glimmer of hope that terrorism may see its end soon with people’s help, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Monday.
While assuring that his government would work to strengthen people’s crusade against the menace of terrorism, Abdullah also appealed to the Centre to avoid steps that will alienate the public in the aftermath of the April 22 attack in Baisaran meadow that left 26 people, mostly tourists, dead.
Calling the massacre the most unfortunate, Abdullah said during the special one-day session of the J&K Assembly that the spontaneous pouring of people on roads against the incident offers a glimmer of hope that terrorism may see its end soon with their help.
“Militancy, terror or terrorism will finish when people are with us. Given people’s outrage against the terror attack, this is the beginning of its finishing if we take proper steps,” an emotional chief minister said, winding up a discussion on a resolution in the House to condemn the Pahalgam terror attack.
“We should not take any step or action that will alienate people. We cannot control a terrorist with a gun but we can end terrorism if people are with us. I think that time has come when people are heading towards that stage,” he said.
Referring to the unprecedented and spontaneous protests across Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah said Srinagar’s Jama Masjid and other mosques for the first time observed a two-minute silence before Friday prayers.
Separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq leads the prayers in Jama Masjid which was considered as the headquarters of separatism in Kashmir since the eruption of militancy in 1989.
Reading out the names of the slain civilians during his over 25-minute speech, the chief minister said from east to west and north to south, the whole country suffered the loss because of this heinous attack.
“This was not the first attack of its kind in J&K as many such incidents like the firing on Amarnath Yatra camp, villages in Doda, Kashmiri Pandits and Sikh habitations have taken place in the past but the Baisaran incident against civilians took place after a gap of 21 years.
“We were of the opinion that such attacks have become history and these are no longer linked to our present or future,” the chief minister said, adding that unfortunately the Baisaran attack revived the past memory and a feeling where might be the next attack.
Recalling his visit to the police control room to pay homage to 26 victims earlier, the chief minister said “words could not express how I could seek forgiveness from the bereaved families. How do I console children who witnessed their father’s violent death, or a newlywed widow of a Navy officer?”
Abdullah recounted the heartbreaking questions from survivors, who asked “what was our fault?” Their first trip to Kashmir, intended for joy, had turned into a lifelong tragedy, he said.
Expressing a sense of personal responsibility, he said “as both chief minister and tourism minister, I invited them to Kashmir. My duty as their host was to ensure their safe return, a duty I failed to uphold.”
Abdullah directly confronted the terror group, The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which claimed responsibility for the attack, citing alleged demographic change.
“Those who claim to act for our betterment…did we ask for this? Did we ask for 26 innocent people to be sent home in coffins? Did this attack have our consent?” he asked.
He said that the sentiment of every person in Jammu and Kashmir was a resounding “no”, emphasising the deep and personal impact of the tragedy.
“We saw people coming out on their own from their homes, from Kathua to Kupwara, for the first time in 36 years to lodge their protest against the killings. There is hardly any place where the people have not condemned it and expressed in unequivocal terms that ‘not in our name'”, he said.
Paying tributes to Syed Adil Hussain Shah from Anantnag, who lost his life in the terror attack, Abdullah said “everyone valued his life, yet this young Kashmiri man sacrificed it to protect the tourists.”
“He could have fled without question, but instead, he faced danger head-on.”
Abdullah said that surviving tourists were sharing similar stories of courage and compassion like that of a pony handler who refused to leave a tourist behind, a Shikara wallah offering free rides, and taxi drivers and hoteliers providing free services and accommodation in Srinagar.
“I salute and thank them for this deeply ingrained hospitality,” he said.
The chief minister said the reason behind constituting a special assembly session was that neither the Parliament nor any other Assembly of the country can understand the pain of the 26 families other than this assembly.
“Speaker sahib, those people sitting around you have also lost someone or the other to terrorism. Our sisters (BJP’s) Shagun Parihar, (NC minister) Sakina Itoo, (Peoples Conference chairman) Sajad Gani Lone, (NC legislator) Qaysar Jamshaid…somebody lost his father or uncle. Sajad expressed the pain in the House of losing someone close in a way that nobody else will,” he said.
“How many of us were attacked…father of Rafiq Naik (of PDP) was attacked (on April 17, 2006). While the attacks are countless, the House also remembers the deadly attack on J&K Assembly complex in Srinagar on October 1, 2001 that left 40 people dead.
“That is the reason why I said neither Parliament nor any other assembly can understand this pain as will the J&K Assembly,” Abdullah said.
Will not cite terror attack to push for statehood: CM Omar
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said he will not use the Pahalgam terror attack as an opportunity to press for restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that he does not believe in “cheap politics”.
Abdullah also announced a dedicated helpline for local students studying outside the Union Territory so that they can register their concerns in the hour of need for timely government intervention.
“The security in Jammu and Kashmir is not the responsibility of the UT’s elected government. But I will not use this occasion to seek statehood. How can I push for statehood now? I do not believe in cheap politics.
“Should I have no value for the 26 lives lost and go to the Centre demanding statehood now?” Abdullah said, winding up the discussion on a resolution passed on the Pahalgam terror attack in the legislative assembly during a one-day special session here.
He was referring to some members in the House who demanded statehood restoration to defeat terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
“We have talked about statehood (with the Central government) in the past and we will continue to talk about it in future, but not right now.
“This time there will be no politics on anything including statehood and business rules except condemnation of the terror act and expressing solidarity with the families who lost their kin. Curse be on me if I go to the Centre and push for statehood at this moment,” the chief minister said.
Abdullah, who stopped members of the treasury benches from thumping desks in praise of his certain remarks, announced that the government would set up a dedicated helpline for the students and other residents from J&K residing in different parts of the country.
“The students and other residents from J&K faced some problems outside the UT (in the aftermath of the terror attack). Nobody can deny that but I am thankful to the state governments which promptly played their role in normalizing the situation,” he said.
He also lauded his cabinet colleagues – Surinder Choudhary, Sakina Itoo, Javed Rana, Satish Sharma and Javed Ahmad Dar – for visiting different places on short notice and holding meetings with respective governments to ensure safety of the students, businessmen and others.
Abdullah said a dedicated helpline would be set up for students and businessmen so that they can register their concerns in the hour of need for timely government intervention even as “we do not want such a situation to happen again”.
The chief minister also warned social media handlers of spreading false news in the wake of the terror attack.
“While 90 percent of people are upholding the truth, there are 10 percent of those who are trying to spread falsehood on social media. I warn them to desist from this immediately as we will not tolerate the spread of falsehood,” Abdullah said.
Earlier, CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami and independents Muzaffar Iqbal Khan, Sheikh Khurshid and Shabir Ahmad Kullay batted for restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
Tarigami highlighted the need for restoration of statehood to J&K in the larger interest of the people and the fight against terrorism.
Taking part in the discussion, Tarigami also questioned the blasting of houses in the valley and said the Supreme Court judgments make it clear that “you cannot punish an entire family for the misdeeds of any of its members”.
Khurshid, in his speech, said this is the appropriate time for the central government to restore statehood and make the elected representatives more powerful.
The legislator from north Kashmir’s Kupwara district also demanded an inquiry into the recent killing of a social activist by terrorists and sought adequate compensation for him.
He also sought the attention of the House to the social media posts questioning the recent encounter in Bandipora that left one terrorist killed. The family members of the deceased alleged that he was arrested and later killed in a “fake encounter”.
Aam Aadmi Party legislator Mehraj Malik called for a decisive action against Pakistan to put an end to terrorism once for all.
Calling for a war with Pakistan to teach it a lesson so that no such incident recur again, Malik said Prime Minister Narendra Modi after cutting short his Saudi Arabia visit preferred to visit Bihar for campaigning rather than coming to Pahalgam to stand in solidarity with the bereaved families.
