Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday said that his government will provide equal treatment to all regions of Jammu and Kashmir without consideration of the voting pattern in the recently held Assembly elections.

He was addressing National Conference (NC) activists during his first visit to Jammu after becoming Chief Minister of the UT.

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He said, “I want to assure the people of Jammu and Kashmir that your voices will now be heard, and your concerns will not be lost in the darkness. The demands will be addressed, and we will resolve the difficulties being faced by the people”. Since the elected government was dissolved in 2018, the people have only faced hardships and troubles. Today, I want to assure the people that now you will be heard. Your voices will no longer disappear into the darkness, Omar added.

The CM said we have won the Assembly election, but the difficult job has now begun for us. “We have to address the problems faced by the common masses and also reduce the gap between the people and the government”. Omar said that the label of NC being a “Muslim Party” has been brushed aside by the people by voting in favour of our candidates. He also refuted the allegations that NC is a party of Kashmir and will only work for the Kashmiris, stating that his government will serve all the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Omar also said, “We made the Deputy CM from our own party. In the last elections, everyone said that the NC was a party of Muslims, it was an organisation for Kashmiris, and that Jammu would have no place in it. But we made Surinder Choudhary Deputy CM who is from Jammu and is Hindu. Now what will those people say?” As soon as the election results came out, some of our well-wishers started spreading the rumour that Jammu will be ignored now because they did not elect NC or Congress candidates. From day one, I had said that this government would be for everyone, he said.

The CM said that in the last 10 years, there wasn’t just an attempt to weaken this party but to “completely destroy” it. Every possible method was used against us. Our workers were threatened, intimidated, and some were lured, but the leaders of the party remained steadfast and did not let these conspiracies succeed.“This organization has faced all kinds of storms. No one could have imagined that this would be the outcome after the elections. I salute the people for how they used their votes,” he added.

He also took the opportunity to praise independent candidates who supported the NC unconditionally.