National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah
Credit: PTI Photo
Omar Abdullah's recent comments on Afzal Guru has drawn flak from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir gave a statement saying that Afzal Guru's execution 'did not serve any purpose'.
Guru was convicted for his role in the 2001 Parliament attack. Earlier, Omar Abdullah had said that the Jammu and Kashmir government was not involved in the process of Guru's execution. However, he further said that if state's approval was required at the time, they would not have granted it.
NDTV reported Abdullah saying, "The unfortunate thing was that the Jammu and Kashmir government had nothing to do with Afzal Guru's execution."
He explained, "otherwise, you would have had to do it with the permission of the state government, which I can tell you in no uncertain terms would not have been forthcoming. We wouldn't have done it. I don't believe that any purpose was served by executing him."
Irked by Abdullah's comments, BJP's Kavinder Gupta, the former Deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir rebuked Abdullah for his comments and claimed he is 'taking support from terrorists'.
"What does Omar Abdullah want to solve? If anti-national elements who hatched a conspiracy against India are given the death penalty, why do they object to this?"
Gupta also added, "They want to create a situation by taking support from terrorists. They are taking support from terrorists. That is why he is speaking such language."
Jammu and Kashmir is gearing up for assembly elections which will be held in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1.
On Friday, National Conference claimed that the BJP-ruled Centre was fielding independent candidates against him in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections in a bid to 'silence' him.
"I always knew that Delhi would want to silence me in some way but I never thought that they would go to this extent. In Baramulla (Lok Sabha Elections), when a person (Sheikh Abdul Rashid) stood against me in the polls, having filed the papers while in jail, he recorded his message from jail and sought votes based on emotions. He defeated me in the elections," he said.
The former chief minister said after the results of Baramulla Lok Sabha seat, he thought luck was on Rashid's side and "it was my bad luck".
"But when I decided to contest (assembly) polls from Ganderbal, reports started pouring in that another citizen (Sarjan Ahmad Wagay alias Barkati) who is in jail is going to contest against me. I was forced to think why these people are put after me only. Is there a conspiracy?' he asked. Abdullah said he could understand Rashid contesting the Lok Sabha polls against him as he was a local from the constituency.
"When they could not find a local (Ganderbal) person in jail, they brought one (Barkati) from Zainapora-Shopian," said Omar, alleging a 'conspiracy'.