Former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday suggested the government was partly to blame for the spurt in militancy in Jammu, while asserting that the insurgency should not be a reason to further delay Assembly polls in the Union Territory.

“Some powers in the neighbouring country do not want friendship between the two countries. They will not give up such actions,” the National Conference leader told reporters in Samba, Jammu, when asked about the increase in attacks. He was
in the district to address a public gathering.

“But somewhere there is negligence from our side. We have lost 55 soldiers, but after one year the LG sahab (lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha) has remembered to hold a meeting (on security). He should have held the meeting on Day One. Why did he wait for us to say such things and only after that he arranged the meeting to try to bring the situation under control?” Omar said.

Sinha on Saturday chaired a high-level security meeting to review security in Jammu. Two top army commanders, including army chief General Upendra Dwivedi, were present.

Jammu has since 2021 witnessed a spurt in militancy, with more than 50 security force personnel and several civilians killed. The attacks increased sharply after the June 9 swearing-in of Narendra Modi as a third-term Prime Minister.

There is speculation that the Centre might further delay the Assembly elections, due since 2018, using the attacks as a pretext.

“This election is taking place on the orders of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has set a September 30 deadline for holding these polls. You stand before the Supreme Court and say the situation is not conducive for polls in Jammu and Kashmir. We will say nothing,” Omar said.

“You say you want to bow before powers (militants), those who killed our 55 brave soldiers in Jammu in the last one year (since 2021). If you are ready to waste their sacrifice, then we will have no objection. We will sit quiet. What else can we do?”

The former chief minister said some people were saying the situation had deteriorated and there should be no elections.

“What happened to you? Are we so weak or has the situation worsened so much that there are no chances of holding elections? We held elections in 1996 and you have to agree that there is a difference of heaven and earth between the situation at that time and today,” Omar said.

“Those who do not want to hold elections should tell us that we are bowing before the gun-toting forces and are accepting defeat, besides ignoring the sacrifices of our forces. You tell our enemies that we will surrender without fighting.”

Earlier, addressing the gathering, Omar said that when the BJP-PDP government took over from the NC in 2015, the situation was different.

“We had cleared all areas of Jammu of the scourge of terrorism. Despite their claims post-2019 (August) — when J&K’s special status was revoked — there is no place which is not facing the looming threat of terror attacks,” he said.

“Not only did they fail to ensure the development of J&K, but our security has also been compromised, which is evident from the attacks resulting in the loss of precious lives of our brave personnel. They are least bothered about all this.”

Omar said there is “not a day when you don’t see an attack in one or the other part of Jammu”.