On Thursday, regional political experts and activists from the Kashmir Valley targeted the former Chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir, while Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, condemned an alleged blasphemous incident at the Government Medical College in Srinagar.
Omar Abdullah, who recently lost North Kashmir to the imprisoned Engineer Rashid, has faced severe criticism from politicians and commentators alike for posting an article from The Print on his X handle.
The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir had quoted a part of an article written by Praveen Swami in The Print. Critics quickly responded, accusing Abdullah of involvement in the “1987 rigging.”
“Rashid’s victory, without doubt, will empower secessionists and give Kashmir’s defeated Islamist movement a renewed sense of hope. Efforts to draw secessionism back into electoral politics led New Delhi to support the rise of the People’s Democratic Party, and its alliance with the BJP. That, however, ended up empowering violent secessionists, not mainstreaming them—a warning of the unpredictable outcomes of trying to manipulate politics. Engineer Rashid’s election victory shows Kashmiri secessionism is far from spent,” Abdullah quoted from the article in his post on X.
As many political experts and politicians attacked Omar Abdullah for his post, Aga Ruhullah took to his X account to denounce blasphemous remarks allegedly made by a student at the Government Medical College in Srinagar, where protests had erupted over the incident.
“This has become a habit of some students in different institutions in Srinagar to post disrespectful content about the Prophet (SAWAW). The recent offense from a student at GMC Srinagar is a fresh example. These repeated offenses cannot be tolerated in any civilized society. We give due respect to the religious figures of other religions and we expect the people of other religions to be equally civilized. The Srinagar administration should take immediate action and book this offender immediately under the law. A mere suspension of the student is not enough,” the newly elected parliamentarian wrote.
Meanwhile, the authorities suspended the accused student on Wednesday evening. Following the suspension, the Srinagar Police registered an FIR in the incident.
“Police takes cognizance of the incident of posting sensitive content against religious sentiments of a particular community by a student of GMC Srinagar. Upon receipt of communication from GMC Srinagar administration, case FIR No.13/24 u/s 153, 153A, 295A, 505(2) IPC registered in PS Karanagar,” Srinagar Police announced in a post on X.