Omar, Ram Madhav trade barbs over Kashmir unrest

A war of words has broken out between former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah and national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Ram Madhav after the former led a delegation of various political parties to meet President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday to apprise him of the prevailing restive situation in the state.

Madhav tweeted, "They talk of political solution but never clarify what it is 2 d rants of Azadi. In power they never offered it when stones were pelted at them. Talk of political solution is only to score political points. They did nothing to help State bring normalcy. Instead helped spread unrest. When govt hosted I-Day in all districts n Ministers went 2 hoist tricolour most of d worthies were simply absent. That's political solution (sic)."

Hitting back at Madhav, Omar tweeted, "Why don't you name us instead of just these snide, sly tweets? I challenge you to prove that any of us spread unrest. You have your IB, MI, RAW, CID. Stop tweeting about us spreading unrest & go use your evidence to file sedition case. We have offered you solutions both while in power & out of it but you are deaf to what you don't like hearing! What is it about us meeting the Hon President that has both @BJP4India & @jkpdp lashing out at us? Is meeting President anti-national (sic)?"

Earlier today, Omar led a delegation of members of various political parties to meet President Mukherjee to apprise him of the restive situation in the Valley. They also handed over a memorandum to the President in this regard.

Speaking to the media here after submitting a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee, Omar said that this is the first time in memory that initiatives that should have been taken by the government, are actually being taken by the opposition.

"This afternoon a delegation of opposition parties that had previously met in Srinagar, called on his Excellency the President to present him a memorandum and to apprise him of the situation currently prevailing, particularly in Kashmir valley, but also showing signs of spreading to Pir Punjal, Chenab valley region of Jammu and Kargil part of Ladakh as well," he said.

Omar added that their meeting with the President, which cuts across party lines, symbolised the deep concerns that they have for the prevailing situation and also their disappointment at the way the matter has sought to be handled, both by the Centre as well as the state government.