Omar trains guns on CM

‘‘If these talks are to succeed, Delhi has to initiate talks with all leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Yasin Malik, Shabir Shah and not just Moulvi Abbas Ansari,’’ he told a cheering crowd. In his tirade against J-K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Omar accused him of splitting the Hurriyat at Delhi’s behest. ‘‘He’s going around saying that he was instrumental in initiating talks between Delhi and Hurriyat, but the truth is he broke Hurriyat for his interests.’’

Casting Mufti in the role of a New Delhi agent, he told the crowd that Mufti was funded and aided by Delhi to carry out its agenda. ‘‘I was a minister in Delhi. I remember he met PM Vajpayee and told him that Delhi was blundering by relying too much on Dr Farooq. He said, Farooq could change his tune tomorrow and turn into a pro-Pakistan leader,’’ he said.

‘‘Vajpayee instead told him to see Advani. When he shared the story with Advani, he told Mufti that since he was a Congressman, they couldn’t trust him,’’ Omar Abdullah added.

They then thought a way out — Mufti would quit the Congress and form his own regional party. ‘‘Within two days of meeting Advani, Mufti announced the launch of PDP in Srinagar. How do you think it’s possible to arrange 600 vehicles for the Uri rally and putting up these huge boards in Kashmir, declaring the distance to Muzaffarabad. This money is flowing from Delhi to PDP,’’ Abdullah said.

Asking people to trust the NC, he said: ‘‘Sheikh Abdullah brought Article 370 to safeguard Kashmir’s special status and I urge you to uphold this by strengthening hands of NC.’’

In the crowd, 60-year-old Ali Mohammad Sheikh sees Sheikh Abdullah’s attributes in Omar. ‘‘This young man reminds me of his grandfather who always stood for safeguarding our identity. I came here to attend the rally to tell him that we will support NC despite his father’s mistakes.’’