Srinagar, July 28 (UNI) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday took a swipe at PDP president Mehbooba Mufti over her clarification on the controversial remarks she made at Jantar Mantar, asserting that she had not actually apologised but had merely expressed regret.
Speaking to reporters in Srinagar, Omar said there was a clear distinction between maafi (apology) and maazrat (regret), and argued that Mehbooba had avoided offering an unconditional apology.
“Did she use the word maafi? No. Did she apologise? No,” Omar said. “There is a difference between maazrat and maafi. If someone says, ‘If anyone was hurt by what I said,’ and uses the word agar (if), then that is not an apology. It is only an expression of regret.”
His remarks came hours after Mehbooba clarified that her ‘banta hai’ remarks had inadvertently slipped out and expressed regret if her statement had hurt anyone’s sentiments.
Omar also questioned the conduct of a PDP MLA who had allegedly claimed for several days that the controversial video of Mehbooba’s remarks was generated using artificial intelligence.
“What about those people who tried to suppress this issue for five days? Who spread falsehoods?” he asked. “Today, Mehboobaji herself has admitted there was no AI involved and that she had made those remarks. His (MLA’s) own president has exposed the lies that were being spread.”
The Chief Minister went on to ask whether the MLA who propagated the AI claim should continue in office.
“He is a responsible MLA. Should he remain an MLA after misleading people for five days?” Omar said.
Responding to questions on the Peoples Democratic Party’s planned protests on the anniversary of abrogation of Article 370, Omar said the party was free to pursue whatever programme it wanted.
“Who has stopped them? When they had the opportunity, they did not raise these issues in Delhi. Let them do whatever they want now,” he said.
In a sharp political attack, Omar blamed the PDP for the current constitutional situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
“We are here because of them. If they had not brought the BJP into power, we would not have been in this situation,” he said, referring to the PDP-BJP coalition government formed in 2015.
He added that if the PDP had realised its mistakes and now wanted to rectify them, it was their decision to make.
