'Why were foreign delegates invited to J-K polls?'

September 25, 2024 11:16

Voters stand in queue at Budgam. Sanna Irshad Mattoo/Reuters

National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah Wednesday lashed out at the Centre's move to invite foreign delegates to observe the ongoing assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, saying the polls were an internal matter of India.

"I don't know why foreigners should be asked to check elections here. When foreign governments comment, then the government of India says 'this is an internal matter for India' and now suddenly they want foreign observers to come and look at our elections," Abdullah told reporters.

He said the assembly elections in J-K "are an internal matter for us", and "we do not need their certificate".

"Also, this participation (of people in polls) is not because of the government of India, it is in spite of everything that the government of India did. They have humiliated people, they have used all the machinery of the government to detain and harass people.

"In spite of that, people are coming and participating in the elections. So, this is not something the government of India should be highlighting. But, anyway, that's the way they are," he said.

A delegation of 16 diplomats from New Delhi-based missions arrived in Srinagar on Wednesday at the invitation of the Ministry of External Affairs to observe the ongoing polls.

The assembly polls in J-K are being conducted after 10 years, and are the first after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

Read Omar Abdullah's interview to Rediff.com here.

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