J&K Diary: Omar Abdullah’s trial by fire

One of Omar Abdullah’s first decisions after being sworn in as chief minister of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir on 16 October 2024 was to restore Martyrs’ Day (13 July) and National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s birthday (5 December) as gazetted holidays.

In doing so, he kept a promise made by the NC in their election manifesto. However, when the commissioner-cum-secretary of the general administration department formally released the list of holidays under the orders of Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, these dates were missing. While NC members fumed, Tanvir Sadiq, MLA, and a close aide to Abdullah, glossed over the absence, saying it neither diminished “their significance” nor “our legacy.”

This isn’t the first time the LG has publicly humiliated the chief minister. On 19 October 2024, four days after the new government was sworn in, D.C. Raina—who was appointed advocate general by former Governor Satya Pal Malik in November 2019—resigned. Abdullah turned down his resignation but Raina was not allowed to retain his post on directions from Raj Bhavan.

Since Abdullah was sworn in, five government officials have been sacked without a chargesheet. These include a police constable, a school teacher and a forest department employee. The Lt Governor chose to ignore the CM’s plea that the sacked staffers be given a chance to prove their innocence. There have been 79 such terminations since 2021.

The CM did sack Hina Bhat, the first Kashmiri Muslim woman to join the BJP. Known to be close to the prime minister, Bhat was heading the J&K Khadi and Village Industries Board. She was replaced by deputy chief minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary.

Several other key positions including the heads of the Village Industries Board, the Handicrafts and Handloom Corporation, J&K Cement Ltd, J&K Industries and the State Industrial Corporation Ltd were replaced by serving ministers or NC leaders. These moves were seen as a reassertion of the elected government’s authority over these institutions.

A controversial decision cleared by the Union home ministry before the elections were held was handing control over the police and IAS bureaucrats to the LG. On 14 December 2024, four months before Umesh Rai, vice-chancellor of Jammu University, was due to retire, Manoj Sinha issued an order extending his term by three more years—without taking Abdullah into confidence.

Nor did the Lt Governor care to consult the CM’s office when he gave the vice-chancellor of Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Nazir Ganale a two-year extension despite pending complaints against him. The investigation demanded by Abdullah was pre-empted by the extension, once again putting the CM in an awkward position.

Following Omar Abdullah's election, media reports indicated a spurt in militant activities. Former RAW chief A.S. Dulat attributed this increase to Pakistan’s determination to prove the Indian government wrong by showing the world that “normalcy has not been restored to J&K”.

This hypothesis was contradicted by Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute of Conflict Management, who affirmed, “There has been no sustained escalation of terrorist activity after Omar Abdullah came to power.”

The Institute of Conflict Management maintains monthly statistics on terror activity in J&K. These reveal that militant activity has declined since 2012, primarily because the survival rate of local militants is almost zero. As a result, young Kashmiris no longer ‘want to pick up the gun’.

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Kashmiris increasingly blame Abdullah for not being tough enough to deal with the Modi government on issues of statehood and establishing a clear chain of command. Dulat publicly stated that rushing to Delhi with expensive gifts and carpets for the prime minister and the Union home minister was a mistake. Such haste immediately after being sworn in weakened his bargaining power and lowered his standing in public. New Delhi played him with a promise to restore statehood, which it has shown no inclination of keeping.

The chief minister's own inability to honour his promise to supply 200 units of free electricity has also been embarrassing. While the National Conference-led government in the Union Territory may control certain aspects of electricity distribution, broader regulatory powers rest with the union government. Therefore, new policies cannot be introduced without the approval of the Lt Governor, who is in no mood to oblige.

Other Kashmir watchers are equally critical of Abdullah. Radha Kumar, who has written several books on Kashmir including Paradise at War, visited Srinagar to impress upon the new CM the need to revive the J&K Human Rights Commission, which was wound up in 2019.

Kumar believes the chief minister should have demanded greater clarity on the new Transaction of Business Rules which make elected representatives redundant. “The Home Minister needs to explain how exactly this demarcation (of power) will function and for how long?” she asked, adding that the Congress is the only party in the UT that is talking about the restoration of statehood.

The question of statehood cropped up following a press meet in Kathua after Iltija Mufti, daughter of PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, outsmarted the police and reached the house of Makhan Din.

Din, a 25-year-old Gujjar youngster, took his own life on 4 January 2025 after alleged torture by the police over suspected links with terrorists. He consumed insecticide and recorded the act on video, all the while claiming innocence.  Calls for an independent probe have intensified and questions have been raised about the role of the police under the LG.

“Omar Abdullah needs to speak up,” said Iltija Mufti. “The ruling NC government, which came to power promising to ensure security and dignity for the people, remains a silent observer. They are shirking their responsibility by not raising the concerns of the common man.”

With Abdullah doing a tightrope walk, many believe he has buckled under pressure.

On 12 February, a day after a suspected IED killed two army men on the Line of Control in Jammu,  Sinha addressed a high-level meeting at the police control room in Srinagar, which was  attended by senior officers from the police, army, CRPF and other security agencies.

The LG’s refusal to invite the chief minister was a well-publicised rebuff. The chief minister’s political advisor Nasir Aslam Wani said Abdullah should have been invited “due to his vast experience in handling security matters” while serving as CM between 2009–2014.

The night of Shab-e-Baraat which fell on 13 February this year is considered one of the holiest nights in the Islamic calendar.  People were led to believe that Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq would lead the Friday prayers at the historic Jama Masjid. Instead, Mirwaiz was put under house arrest, the Jama Masjid forcibly locked down and  people prevented from gathering there.

The message is clear: the Modi government is opposed to any manifestation of Islamic identity in Jammu and Kashmir.

A helpless Abdullah had to be content with a post on X:  ‘It is very unfortunate that the security establishment has taken the decision to seal the historic Jamia Masjid, Srinagar… This decision betrays the lack of confidence in the people and a lack of confidence in the law-and-order machinery that calm won’t prevail without extreme measures. The people of Srinagar deserve better.’

The sustained campaign to humiliate Omar Abdullah and cut him down to size seems to be working, a strategy that has stood the BJP in good stead in several opposition- ruled states. The objective is to create a sense of disillusionment against both Abduallh and the NC, ensuring that people move away and seek an alternative. This suits the smaller parties and explains their silence on the question of statehood. With existing unrest among NC legislators and MPs, has Abdullah allowed himself to be trapped?