Omar demands dissolution of Kashmir assembly, asks for early elections

SRINAGAR: National Conference vice president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday sought dissolution of the state legislative assembly to thwart attempts of horse-trading and further erosion of democratic processes and institutions.
He also said the ongoing crisis in the Kashmir valley could not be resolved by operational and military means. Only dialogue both internally and externally as well could resolve the political conflict of Kashmir, he said at his party’s core group meeting today at the NC headquarters.

In a scathing attack against the Mehbooba Mufti government which collapsed on Tuesday after BJP withdrew its support, Omar said the coalition would be remembered for “its ruthless, anti-people legacy that fuelled alienation in the Valley through its iron-fist approach to deal with widespread disenchantment and disillusionment that was stoked by PDP’s glaring ideological U-turns to remain in power.”

Omar said PDP’s approach to deal with recurring crises in the Valley was an approach of denial, persecution and insensitivity evidenced by Mehbooba Mufti’s silence on glaring human-rights violations where youth were used as human shields and mowed down by vehicles.