Former Chief Minister and vice-president of National Conference on Saturday admitted in full public view that stone pelting has stopped in Kashmir.
"I don't know what are the reasons but one thing I admit here is that stone pelting has stopped in Kashmir Valley for the last couple of years", Omar Abdullah said at a function at Jammu.
"As a responsible politician, I never want that youth of Kashmir should be involved in stone pelting or other violent acts", he said.
The former Chief Minister, however, said that the security scenario in Jammu and Kashmir has been deteriorating as selective and targeted killings have been going unabated.
To substantiate his allegation, Omar Abdullah mentioned about killings of Kashmiri Pandits, who have been living peacefully in the Valley during the peak of terrorism and despite the exodus of their community members in the early 1990s.
No national-level political party will support restoration of Article 370
Omar Abdullah also admitted that neither the present BJP-led government at the Centre nor any other political party would dare to restore articles 370 and 35-A.
"It is a reality that most of the national-level political parties are not going to support our demand of restoration of Article 370", he said, adding, "When this Article was removed on August 5, 2019, only a few political groups opposed that decision of the Union Government".
"We are not expecting much support from political parties on this issue so we have approached the court of law to get this Article back", he said.
"We will not ask the present BJP-led government to bring back Article 370 or 35-A because this government has abolished these articles", he said and added that instead of instigating people on this issue NC has taken the legal course.
"Abrogation of Article 370 was core of BJP's agenda so we don't have any hope from the present regime. We are politically fighting to bring back articles 370 and 35-A by adopting legal course", Omar said.
Uncertainty, and confusion over assembly elections in J&K
Omar Abdullah expressed his anguish over uncertainty about holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. "Why there is a delay in announcing assembly elections in J&K?", he said.
He reminded that the Union Government had promised to conduct assembly elections in J&K after the completion of the delimitation exercise.
