Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday cautioned against stereotyping an entire community in the wake of terror attacks, saying Kashmiris were as shaken by the recent attack in Delhi as they were by the Pahalgam tragedy. He was speaking at the Hindustan Leadership Summit 2025 in New Delhi.
“Not all Kashmiri Muslims are terrorists; not all support terrorism. In fact, it is a minuscule minority that does,” Abdullah said during a conversation with Hindustan Times Political Editor Sunetra Choudhury. He described 2025 as “a difficult year by any yardstick” for Jammu and Kashmir, referring to the attack in Baisaran near Pahalgam and the blast near the Red Fort in Delhi, which he said stemmed from a conspiracy hatched in the Union Territory.
Pahalgam Attack and Its Economic Impact
Abdullah pointed to the public response after the Pahalgam attack, which claimed over two dozen lives at the popular tourist destination, as evidence of where the people of Jammu and Kashmir truly stand. He recalled the candlelight protests that followed the killings and said the overwhelming majority of residents were those who came out on the streets to express their grief and anger.
“They are the ones in our colleges and universities, and the ones trying to earn an honest day’s living in different parts,” he said. The chief minister also lamented the economic fallout of the April attack, saying it had “completely reoriented” the Union Territory’s economy. “We have never been a particularly strong economy. Unfortunately, these kinds of circumstances make it even more difficult,” he added.
‘Othering’, Home-Grown Terror and Limits of Constitutional Changes
Abdullah also raised concerns over what he termed “othering” within India. Without naming the state, he referred to an incident in Haryana where, following the Delhi blast, government orders reportedly directed all foreign nationals and Kashmiris to register at their nearest police stations. By the time he could speak to leaders there, he said, “the damage was done”.
Responding to questions about the reported “return of home-grown terrorism” in India, Abdullah said it had never disappeared. “When did it go away? The ones who are surprised are the ones who thought it had gone away,” he said. He also argued that constitutional changes, including the abrogation of Article 370 and the conversion of Jammu and Kashmir into a Union Territory, were not enough to eliminate terrorism. “You cannot have an elected government that is completely removed from security-related decisions,” he said, asserting that UT status for J&K, even with an assembly, was not a solution.
