Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference Working President Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that Kashmiri youths were apprehensive of moving out of the state following the crackdown on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
Addressing a youth convention at the party headquarters in Srinagar, Abdullah said the “victimization of Kashmiri youth outside the State was alarming as they were being openly profiled and hounded.”
“During our tenure in the Government, we tried our best to open avenues of employment for our youth outside the State through landmark schemes. Today our youngsters – students as well as job aspirants – are terrified at the very prospects of venturing outside the State after the JNU issue was used as a pretext to harass our youth,” said Abdullah.
He said that people were being arrested and booked under sedition by showing doctored videos.
“Today fake videos and fake slogans are being used as a basis for arrests and defamation and branding people ‘anti-national’. Where will Kashmiri students and young professional go in this poisoned atmosphere? As it is, our youth are stereotyped, harassed and profiled without any provocation or basis. Now, where will they go? Who will show them the right path and protect them from radical voices who are now openly advocating tyranny and bigotry? Our youth finds itself drowned in the darkness of hopelessness and despair,” he said.
However, Abdullah said that his party remained committed to protecting the youth of the state.
“National Conference would protect our youth in this atmosphere of victimization and harassment and would offer them hope, encouragement and support. We will stand by our youth, we will not allow anyone to harass them and defame them. While PDP has sold its tongue for power, National Conference will fight tooth and nail for the rights of our youth to live with dignity and peace of mind both within and outside the State.”
He said that the Chinese Leadership had offered full support to his grandfather Sheikh Abdullah to launch an armed revolt in the state, during the Algerian Conference in the 1950s
“Sheikh Sahib chose to go to prison himself and struggled personally rather than putting guns in the hands of our youth. That was the extent of his selflessness and the mettle of his integrity. He chose prison cells over power for 22 years rather than sacrificing our youth. We have always believed in nurturing and protecting our future generation and we will continue to serve their interests and work for their prosperous future,” he said.
