Jammu and Kashmir: Omar Abdullah sets out on foot to party office

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday set out from his home on foot to reach the party office after police allegedly denied him escort vehicles and ITBP personnel coverAbdullah the vice president of the National Conference NC was scheduled to address a function at the party headquarters NawaiSubah to pay homage to 22 Kashmiri people who were killed by the army of a Dogra ruler on this day in 1931He alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir Police denied him his security escort vehicles and ITBP cover to visit the party headquartersThere was no immediate response from the policeUnfazed by the denial Abdullah set out to the office near Zero Bridge on foot from his home in the Gupkar area of the city here while a handful of his special security group personnel a wing of JK Police responsible for guarding VVIPs were seen walking along with himThe former JK chief minister took to Twitter and posted a video of his walk to the officeDear JmuKmrPolice dont think that refusing to give me my escort vehicles amp ITBP cover will stop me Ill walk to where I have to get to amp thats exactly what Im doing now Abdullah saidAfter reaching office where some of his party leaders and activists were waiting for him the NC vice president said the police would now send everything for his securityNow that Ive got to the office amp will go ahead with my programme you will send everything The fact is JmuKmrPolice has stopped a lot of my senior colleagues from coming to the JKNC_ office today by adopting the same tactics of stopping them in their homes Notable amongst those stopped are Abdul Rahim Rather Sb AliMSagar_ Sb Ali Mohd Dar Sb and others he saidThe NC said Abdullah was to address the party workers to pay tributes to the 1931 martyrsDespite 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 tweetJuly 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 guestHowever the governor administration dropped the day from the list of gazetted holidays in 2020 after the abrogation of Article 370 and splitting of the erstwhile state into Union territories by the Centre on August 5 2019Apart from the official function at the Martyrs graveyard mainstream political leaders also used to visit it to pay homage to the 22 Kashmiris who fell to the bullets of the Dogra army while protesting the autocratic rule of Maharaja Hari SinghFor these last few years the political parties have alleged that their movement was restricted on the day and they were not allowed to visit the graveyard in the cityThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever