Omar calls Wangchuk's arrest 'unfortunate', says Centre didn't keep its promise

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday said the arrest of climate activist Soman Wangchuk was unfortunate, and accused the BJP-led NDA government of backtracking on its promises.

"This (Wangchuk' arrest) is unfortunate. The way the Central government was after him since yesterday, it seemed they would do something like this," Abdullah told reporters on the sidelines of the inaugural ceremony of the third Junior Asian Pencak Silat championship here.

"Promises were made with the people there...I don't understand what compulsions does the Central government have to backtrack after making promises," he said.

Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk was arrested on Friday, two days after violent protests in Ladakh left four people dead and 90 others injured. It was not immediately clear what charges were pressed against Wangchuk.

The home ministry had blamed Wangchuk, a senior member of Leh Apex Body (LAB), which, along with Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), is spearheading the agitation in support of the demands — statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution — for the past over five years, for provocation leading to the violence.

The J&K chief minister said before the Hill council elections in Leh in 2020, a Union minister went there as the people there had decided to boycott the elections.

"Promises were made to make people contest and participate in the elections. Not only did the people then participate in the elections in huge numbers, but they made BJP win. But the promises were not kept, same as with us," he said.

Referring to the promise of the restoration of J&K's statehood after the completion of assembly elections, Abdullah said the people in the Union territory participated in the elections, and then the government was formed here based on those promises.

He asked whether the people of J&K are being kept away from statehood because they didn't elect the BJP to power. "If that is the case, then they should tell the court that till BJP doesn't form the government in J&K, statehood will not be restored," he said.

To a question over Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the J&K assembly Sunil Sharma's allegation that Abdullah was justifying violence in Ladakh, the CM said the BJP MLA always pins the blame on others. PTI