“A very different world today that existed on August 5”
NEYAZ ELAHI
Srinagar, Mar 24, KNT: Eight months after his release, Omar Abdullah Tuesday said that he has talk a lot, and he will speak at opportune time. “A lot has been changed since August 5, in the region. Jammu Kashmir is split into two Union Territories. There is a lot to talk about it, but right now we need to focus on Covid-19 outbreak and safety of people,” Omar told Reports outside his Gupkar based residence.
The government ordered his release on Tuesday, days after his father Farooq Abdullah was freed. A third former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, is still in detention.Omar along with other leaders including former Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti were arrested on August 5, the day when Government of India through a presidential decree read down the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. In a bid to curb the protests, Government of India resorted to an unprecedented lock-down, even detaining apolitical personalities, shifting them outside Jammu and Kashmir Jails.
Omar Abdullah according to Kashmir News Trust demanded the immediate release of Kashmiri people lodged in different jails under contentious PSA. He said that government should release all the men and children whose families are worried about the outbreak of Covid-19. “For months, people in Kashmir faced hardships, children couldn’t go to school, shopkeepers couldn’t earn a living while several sectors collapsed and people were confined to homes. People suffered a lot and I will talk on time,” he said adding that at the moment people should follow government advisories to curb the spread of Coronavirus.
Omar Abdullah also demanded the restoration of 4G, stating that banning high speed internet in this crisis will serve no purpose.
Meanwhile, Omar Abdullah his first tweet after his release said that “232 days after my detention today I finally left Hari Niwas. It is a very different world today to the one that existed on 5th August 2019.” (KNT)
