JNU incident: Omar Abdullah condemns police action, questions Mehbooba Mufti's silence

SRINAGAR: Former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah has criticised the police crackdown on Jawaharlal Nehru University ( JNU) students and questioned the silence of People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti over the issue.

Abdullah urged home minister Rajnath Singh to go ‘public with evidence’ that prove that the JNU students were backed by Hafiz Saeed. He also took a dig at Mehbooba, saying "this is the same BJP Mehbooba is negotiating with" to form a government in J&K, which is under Governor’s rule since January 8 this year. "No wonder she is completely silent and hasn’t said a word about the JNU crack -down," he said in a string of tweets on Sunday.

The pro-freedom leadership, including Hurriyat and JKLF, has condemned the police action terming it as "an assault on the freedom of expression". Kashmir University Students Union, which is officially banned, also issued a statement in solidarity with the JNU students.

"Few non-violent slogans by JNU students shook entire India, and now Rajnath Singh and Simriti Irani are issuing threats to the poor students of an educational institution. This can have dangerous consequences for minorities across India," Syed Ali Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference said in a statement. Similarly, JKLF chairman Yasin Malik said that for the past few years, animosity against Kashmir and intolerance is increasing across India. However, the state BJP in line with its New Delhi leadership has maintained that students found guilty of "anti-national activities and sloganeering should be punished.