• Source:JND
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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday claimed that Kashmiris were being unjustly singled out following the November 10 explosion near Delhi’s Red Fort. He also argued that the revocation of Article 370 had failed to halt the ongoing violence in the region.

"We want this cycle (of violence) to stop. Jammu and Kashmir, especially Kashmir, has witnessed so much bloodshed in the last 30-35 years. We were told that this will not happen now and this cycle will end after 2019. But, it has not," Abdullah told reporters in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.

He further said, “An impression is being created that we are all responsible for what happened in Delhi. It feels like a crime to drive a vehicle with a J&K registration number. When I don’t take security personnel with me in Delhi now while driving, I have to think twice, wondering if I might be stopped and questioned."

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Abdullah’s comments followed the identification of Dr Umar Nabi, a 28-year-old assistant professor at Haryana’s Al-Falah University and originally from Pulwama, as the suspected suicide bomber in Delhi. Two other individuals, Dr Muzzamil Shakeel and Dr Shaheen Shahid who were arrested with weapons, ammunition, and explosives, also had links to Jammu and Kashmir.

Just hours ahead of the blast, authorities arrested eight people and confiscated 2,900 kilograms of explosives. Police described the operation as the discovery of a “white-collar terror module” connected to the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, operating across Kashmir, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.

The chief minister said those responsible for the security in J-K should be made accountable.

"You will have to ask those responsible for our security as to why it (violence) has not ended. That responsibility does not lie in our hands," he added.

CM Abdullah further said there is an incident of violence happening somewhere or the other.

"If a bomb is not exploding in Delhi, then it goes off here," he said referring to the recent car blast near the Red Fort in Delhi, and Friday's accidental blast in Nowgam Police station here. He lamented that innocent people were losing their lives in such incidents.

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The chief minister said he went to five places for condolences on Tuesday, and was scheduled to visit two more on Wednesday.

CM Abdullah visited the families of Aijaz Afzal Mir at HMT Zainakote, Mohammad Amin Mir at Bemina, and Showkat Ahmad Bhat at Qamarwari, all members of Forensic Science Laboratory team, Suhail Ahmad Rather at Natipora (revenue department chowkidar), and Mohammad Shafi Paray at Wanabal (tailor), who lost their lives in the Nowgam blast on Friday.

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