Not Article 370, 1987 rigged elections triggered armed resistance, Omar tells BJP

Srinagar: National Conference vice President Omar Abdullah has challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party’s claims that special status of occupied Jammu and Kashmir, enshrined under Article 370 of the Indian constitution ,was root cause of the armed resistance in the territory.

Omar Abdullah in response to the BJP’s claim highlighted that the troubled history of occupied Jammu and Kashmir can be clearly linked to events in 1987 when assembly elections were massively rigged by the Indian state machinery.

Omar Abdullah wondered why there wasn’t armed resistance right after Article 370 was put into effect in 1950 and why it only started in 1987.

“If Article 370 was the root cause of militancy in J&K, then militancy should have started in 1947 not in 1987. For 40 years prior to 1987 you still had no militancy”, he said.

The NC leader, in fact, referred to the formation of a Muslim alliance in the name of Muslim United Front, which contested the elections on one-point agenda – securing a verdict from the IIOJK assembly floor against India’s illegal occupation.

However, New Delhi massively rigged these elections by overnight changing results in favor of pro-India political parties. All MUF candidates who were significantly leading during the night were declared losers, next day. The development was quite surprising for the Kashmiri people. The change of election results forced the Kashmiri people to revisit their action plan. This eventually led to the armed resistance in the occupied territory in 1988, and this is what Omar Abdullah has referred to in his statement.