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Being treated unfairly: Omar’s uncle
Arun Joshi
Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 16
Ruling National Conference additional general secretary and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s uncle Sheikh Mustafa Kamal today said, “Our country is treating us in an unfair manner.”

Drawing parallels between approach of the Indian Government and that of Pakistan toward Kashmir, he said, “It is India that has invoked the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and sent troops to Jammu and Kashmir.”

“Pakistan has not done anything like that. It has neither invoked AFSPA nor sent troops, it only instigated militancy,” he said.

When reminded that it was Pakistan-sponsored militancy that made the Central Government invoke AFSPA and bring in troops to quell militancy, Mustafa said, “That kind of militancy is nowhere, so why should Kashmiris suffer things that have lost relevance today.”

The Centre was not giving any serious thought to the Chief Minister’s pleas for revocation of AFSPA, he added. Substantiating his points against the Centre, he had a litany of arguments, like the country did not honour the instrument of accession signed by Maharaja Hari Singh in 1947 in letter and spirit. The state legislature passed a greater autonomy report by more than two-thirds majority in 2000, but the Centre threw the report into dustbin without even reading it, he alleged. He also questioned the government silence on the recommendations of three interlocutors.