Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said that the region’s issues would have to be addressed by the Government of India and not by Washington, ahead of his meeting with US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor during the envoy’s visit to Srinagar.
Gor is scheduled to meet Abdullah at the Chief Minister’s Gupkar residence before travelling to Ladakh. Speaking to reporters after reviewing development works in Srinagar, Abdullah said he was looking forward to the meeting but did not expect the US envoy to offer solutions to Kashmir’s problems. “I am keener on hearing from him,” Abdullah said, adding that he was “not given to taking my grouses to the ambassador of another country”.
“Our matters are not going to be resolved in Washington. They will be resolved by the government of our country,” he said.
Abdullah said the two sides would discuss the situation in Jammu and Kashmir but stressed that he was not approaching the meeting with the expectation of seeking external intervention.
“We will, of course, discuss the situation in J&K, but I am not looking for solutions from them,” he said.
The Chief Minister also pointed out that the visit marked the first time in several years that a US ambassador had travelled to Jammu and Kashmir. The last such visit took place in January 2020 when then-US Ambassador Kenneth Juster, accompanied by envoys from 14 other countries, visited Srinagar and Jammu following the constitutional changes in the region.
Meanwhile, the BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit announced a protest outside the civil secretariat, accusing the Abdullah government of corruption.
Responding to the allegations, Abdullah said the J&K government did not have control over the investigative agencies that could independently examine such charges.
“I don’t have any control over any investigative agency including police, crime branch or anti-corruption bureau,” he said. Abdullah questioned whether any of these agencies had flagged corruption in the matters being raised by the BJP and alleged that the BJP controlled these agencies. He also said the BJP should investigate the allegations and initiate legal proceedings if it found evidence of wrongdoing, rather than making what he described as unfounded accusations.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, meanwhile, urged Gor to reconsider the US travel advisory concerning Kashmir.
She said the advisory had a direct impact on the region’s tourism-dependent economy, describing it as “a wall between Kashmir and the world”.
Mufti argued that withdrawing the advisory would signal greater international confidence in Kashmir, encourage the return of foreign tourists and provide relief to families whose livelihoods depend heavily on tourism.
