‘Pakistan managed to internationalise Kashmir’: Omar Abdullah claims

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that Pakistan has managed to ‘internationalise the question of Jammu and Kashmir,’ in the aftermath of the Pahalgam massacre.

Omar Abdullah’s response came hours after both countries entered into a ceasefire ending intense escalation following India’s Operation Sindoor.

Summing up the situation following Pahalgam massacre, Abdullah said that the terror attack has jolted Kashmir’s flourishing tourism sector, which started recovering after a long time.

In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Abdullah said: ‘We are in a place where We didn't expect to be. We are in a place where there has been Bloodshed suffering. Turmoil upheaval... Everything has changed. And yet in some ways nothing has.’

Where it should have been full with tourists, booming economy, children at school, along with airports functioning with 50-60 flights a day at this time of the year, now the Valley is empty, schools, the airport and airspace are closed, he said.

'Yet when I say nothing has changed -- Pakistan has, by design, unfortunately again, managed to internationalise the question of Jammu and Kashmir,' he said, adding 'The US, which seems to be keen to inject itself in the role of a moderator, interlocutor.'

However, the chief minister added that in some ways, so little has changed.

‘When we see just three weeks ago, it was a bustling place. Bahalga was full of tourists. And then that horrible massacre,’ he was quoted as saying.

At the thriving tourist location of Pahalgam, terrorists on April 22 shot down 25 tourists and a local ponywallah who was trying to save the tourists.

Days later India launched Operation Sindoor , targeting terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir.