National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah said that he supports a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 census data “rather than one driven by political motives” even as he asserted his party was ready for assembly elections, which are yet to be announced.
Talking to reporters in Doda, he said that his party never believes in provoking the public and that people get annoyed when there is a mistake on part of the government.
“Getting ready for elections or holding elections is the responsibility of the election commission. Our (assembly) elections have already been delayed for a long time as the last polls were held in 2014 and seven years have already passed,” Abdullah said.
He said his party was ready for the polls and would announce its candidates with the sounding of the poll bugle.
“After that, it is up to the people how long they are willing to accompany us. We have to convince them of that,” Abdullah said.
About the ongoing delimitation process and the Centre’s promise of holding the assembly polls after the completion of the exercise, he said, “It (delimitation) should not be conducted based on politics. It should be carried out based on the Census. We have the census of 2011 and no census data after that so there will be no objection from anybody if the delimitation is done following the 2011 census data.”
Responding to a question about the reported remarks of the Director General of Police (DGP) that some Kashmir-based mainstream parties were provoking the public, Abdullah said, “It is better to ask him about it. However, we have neither provoked people in the past nor have any programme to provoke them in the future. We are saying that the government should rightfully do its work and the people will stay calm and maintain peace.”
Referring to the November 15 encounter in Hyderpora of Srinagar, in which four persons were killed, he said, “When there is a mistake from the government, people get annoyed. We did not do the Hyderpora encounter. The people were not involved in the encounter as well. Innocent people were not killed by us. If people got agitated, why blame us? We are not responsible for that. Those guilty should be identified and brought to book.”
Responding to a question about the hoisting of tricolour in Kashmir, Abdullah said, “We had two flags (before 5 August 2019) but never preferred one flag to another and kept both the flags high.”
He said that he used to hoist the tricolour on August 15 and January 26 when he was the chief minister.
“However, it was also our right to unfurl the State flag as well, which was given to the people of J&K by the constitution,” Abdullah said.
Earlier, addressing a rally at Doda bus stand, he said that there was no accountability in Jammu and Kashmir administration, which was reflected when senior civil officers were made to wait for hours outside a police station in Rajouri district.
“There is no accountability in the administration, where the powerful gets everything. Nobody is ready to listen to the public and they are also busy fighting each other. The officers are behaving like kings without the crown,” Abdullah said.
Referring to an incident in Rajouri where said senior civil officers, including the DC, were forced to wait for over two hours outside the police station on the pretext that they had not given prior information of their visit, he said that this reflected the tussle within the system. ( PTI )
