Omar Abdullah says all Kashmiris being looked at with suspicion post Delhi blast: 'Attempts being made to...'

J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah alleged on Wednesday that Kashmiris were being unfairly singled out post the November 10 blast near Delhi’s Red Fort.

Speaking in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam, Abdullah said, “A handful of people are responsible for what happened in Delhi (car blast near Red Fort). But, an attempt is being made to create an environment as if all of us were guilty, as if we were all involved.”

“Today, driving a vehicle with J&K registration number in Delhi is considered a crime. When I do not have many security personnel with me, I myself think whether I should take out my car or not, as I do not know if anyone will stop me and ask me where I was from and why I had come there,” he added further.

The remarks came after Dr Umar Nabi, a 28-year-old Al-Falah University assistant professor from Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, was named as the suspected suicide bomber in the Delhi blast case.

Two others arrested with arms, ammunition and explosives -- Dr Muzzamil Shakeel and Dr Shaheen Shahid -- also have links to Jammu and Kashmir.

In the hours leading up to the explosion, authorities picked up eight suspects and recovered 2,900 kg of explosives from what they described as a “white-collar terror module” spread across Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and connected to Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.

“In the prevailing circumstances, perhaps parents will not like to send their children outside. When we are looked at with suspicious eyes from every side, when attempts are made to defame us for someone else's doing, when attempts are made to bring everyone into the ambit of what few people have done, then it is obvious that it becomes difficult for us to leave for outside,” said Abdullah.

The November 10 car explosion in Delhi that claimed 15 lives has triggered a sweeping, multi-agency investigation involving the Delhi Police special cell, National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Crime Branch.