Hours after former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on Kashmiri students being targeted in various parts of the country J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik on Thursday denied reports of attacks on students.
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar Omar told reporters, “All over the country but especially in some areas, an entire population is being maligned. Our students outside the State, with no connection to politics, are being targeted and expelled. This is nothing but a conspiracy. Why is the Centre silent on it” ?
Reacting to Omar’s statement on a TV debate Governor Satya Pal Malik later said “I don’t want to comment on what Omar said but, I can tell you something for your information, there are approximately 22000-25000 Kashmiri students studying outside J&K, not a single student has even been slapped”.
He said, “At eleven locations we had appointed liaison officers 6 months ago, these officers took care of them and maintained co-ordination with the State Government and kept the students safe. Even yesterday in Dehradun Kashmiri students stated that there was no risk or danger to them and PDP people there were creating a false ruckus. There is an attempt to create an issue where there is no issue, just to communalise before the elections and I don’t want to react to such childish man.”
During the press conference Omar had also slammed Congress and said not just the ruling party and the PM, but even the opposition has been absolutely silent on this issue.
Referring to possibility of dialogue between India and Pakistan Omar said, “talks with Pakistan cannot be held in the backdrop of terror attacks such as the one in Pulwama, in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed. “Our PM has talked about a ‘muh tod jawab’ but such a reply is not possible in the current situation as the Pakistan PM has also stated that they would not think of but retaliate if any attack is launched by India,” Abdullah said.