Omar called the crisis the outcome of the Centre’s delaying tactics on confronting real issues. “We have been screaming that this problem does not have a military or economic solution. It is primarily political,” he told The Indian Express. “They (the Centre) though that militancy had gone down and tourism returned and thus everything is fine. We had been insisting that the policy of status quo will explode Kashmir again and it has happened. They don’t learn any lessons.”

He added that the demands of the Hurriyat were not new. “These (demands) were discussed in working groups framed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and there was an agreement to implement them. Why wait?” he said.

Omar lamented that two prime ministers had made promises in the past but never implemented them. “Both Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and Vajpayee made promises. The prime minister said sky is the limit but nothing happened. Then Vajpayee said that his government will not repeat previous mistakes and a solution will be found within the ambit of humanity. Again nothing concrete happened,” Omar said.

Taking a strong exception to claims that New Delhi had been investing a huge amount of money and resources in Kashmir, Omar said: “If they (the national leadership) see the relationship between Kashmir and New Delhi through money and funds alone, then how will they explain the relationship between India and Bhutan, which is not even a part of our country?” He said the Northeast too gets per capita central assistance equal if not more than Kashmir. “Why Kashmir then?” he asked.

... contd.