India, not Pakistan, responsible for crisis in Kashmir: Omar Abdullah

SRINAGAR: Former chief minister of the occupied Kashmir Omar Abdullah said on Thursday that India is primarily responsible for the unrest in the valley, not Pakistan.

The former chief minister highly criticised India over the prevailing unrest in Kashmir and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi did nothing to stop violence against Kashmiris.

Indian and local government have closed their eyes to the current situation in Kashmir, he said.

Indian soldiers earlier today raided a village in Indian-occupied Kashmir overnight in an attempt to quash ongoing protests, leaving one civilian dead and dozens injured, police said.

Earlier, former Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday had accused Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of "exacerbating" the crisis in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

India had reportedly rejected United Nations Human Rights Council’s request for a visit to occupied Kashmir to investigate human rights violations in the region. The UNHCR had written a letter requesting a visit after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had written to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to make efforts to end the violence in Kashmir.

Mobile services were suspended July 15 after freedom fighter Burhan Wani was martyred by Indian forces on the July 8 and led to an escalation in protests.

Indian security forces have resorted to firing pellets to disperse protesters injuring over 3500, and rendering some blind.

Since July, dozens of Kashmiri youth have lost their eyesight after Indian forces resorted to using pellet guns on unarmed civilians.