Omar Abdullah requests PM Modi to ask his ministers to stop giving conflicting statements on Kashmir

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct his ministers not to issue controversial and conflicting statements on Kashmir issue on Sunday.

Abdullah during a session of a National Conference citing Union Minister Jitendra Singh’s remark, “There is no such thing as Kashmir issue”, he asked why Modi-led Central government appointed a special representative for a sustained dialogue then.

He added that the former intelligence Bureau chief who has been assigned to initiate talks with all stakeholders in Kashmir would get confused due to the conflicting statements of several Union Minister.

Abdullah said, “The way central ministers are issuing conflicting issues things won’t smoothen in Kashmir. I request the Prime MInister to ask his ministers to stop issuing statements. The way you did note bandi.. In a similar fashion please do ‘zuban bandhi’ (keep silent) for ministers. Otherwise the initiative would end before it even begins, which would be unfortunate for the state and its people.”

Abdullah further added that the central government ministers do not listen to the prime ministers.

“The Prime Minister spoke from Red Fort (on Independence Day)... He said Kashmir’s problems can only be resolved by embracing Kashmiris. I wished the ministers had listened to your (PM) speech. It seems your cabinet colleague were sleeping then… None of them pondered over your speech,” added the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister.

(With PTI inputs)