Srinagar, Apr 4: Former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Saturday said he will only open up on how he felt about Article 370 abrogation and division of the erstwhile state once the ongoing crisis of coronavirus is over.
Omar, who earlier in the day, called for restoration of statehood and conduct of elections, must have felt his political comments didn’t fit with the ongoing extraordinary times when an epidemic is devouring people in thousands and has rattled the entire world.
“Delhi made a mistake notifying the domicile rules during this time of crisis & I made a mistake getting sucked in to this debate at a time when it’s wrong to let politics distract from the #COVID19 fight. I haven’t spoken my mind about 5/8/2019 yet but I will when this is over,” Omar tweeted.
“For the time being, regardless of the provocation, I’ll focus on the battle at hand. Twitter is anyway the wrong place to talk about what I feel about 5/8/2019 until I’m able to find a platform for a detailed explanation of thoughts/feelings/plans,” his other tweet read.
Last month, Omar was released after more than 200 days of detention which, for him and the likes of him, had begun right before the government of India abrogated Article 370, and downgraded and divided J&K into two union territories in August last year.
His father Farooq Abdullah along with PDP chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti too were among scores of major political leaders placed in detention.
While Abdullahs were eventually released, Mehbooba continues to be caged till now.
J&K is bearing the brunt of a global catastrophe in the form of coronavirus.
On Saturday, 17 fresh cases were tested positive for the infection as the overall numbers in J&K reached 92.
Two patients, so far, have died of it.
Globally, the disease has infected over a million with around 60,000 dead of it.
