Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah set out from his home on foot Thursday to reach the party office after police allegedly denied him escort vehicles and ITBP personnel cover. Abdullah, the vice president of the National Conference (NC), was scheduled to address a function at the party headquarters, Nawa-i-Subah, to pay homage to 22 Kashmiri people who were killed by the army of a Dogra ruler on this day in 1931.
He alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir Police denied him his security escort vehicles and ITBP cover to visit the party headquarters. There was no immediate response from the police. Unfazed by the denial, Abdullah set out to the office near Zero Bridge on foot from his home in the Gupkar area of the city, while a handful of his special security group personnel, a wing of J-K Police responsible for guarding VVIPs, were seen walking along with him.
“Dear @JmuKmrPolice, don’t think that refusing to give me my escort vehicles and ITBP cover will stop me. I’ll walk to where I have to get to, and that’s exactly what I’m doing now,” Abdullah said. “Despite the restrictions placed on JKNC Vice President @OmarAbdullah, which denied him security vehicles and ITBP cover, he chose to walk from his home to the Nawai Subh office. His purpose was to address the party workers who had gathered there to pay their heartfelt tributes to the 1931 Martyrs,” the party said in a tweet.
July 13 was a public holiday in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and a grand official function was held every year on this day where the chief minister or the governor would be the chief guest. However, the governor’s administration dropped the day from the list of gazetted holidays in 2020 after the abrogation of Article 370 and the splitting of the erstwhile state into Union territories by the Centre on August 5, 2019.