Srinagar, July 23 -- Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday accused chief minister Omar Abdullah of trying to 'normalise' changes which happened in Jammu and Kashmir after 2019 by restricting to statehood demand only and not talking about restoration of Article 370. Mufti asked Abdullah to refrain from giving people of J&K a sense of defeat by allegedly saying that Article 370 restoration can't be achieved. "NC has always tried to 'normalise' the situation in J&K. When in 1975 there was an accord (with Centre) by late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah (NC founder), he compromised on posts of 'Prime Minister' and 'Sadr e Riyasat' and became a chief minister and 'normalised' all the erosion which had happened till that time. Similarly, the activities of Omar like going to Jantar Mantar for statehood and always talking about statehood, not raising Article 370 issue and now saying its restoration is not possible , it is like 'normalising' things which were done in 2019 in J&K," Mufti said in a presser in Srinagar. Omar on Tuesday had said that statehood was an imperative or basic need for restoring J&K's special status, stressing that Article 370 restoration is meaningless without statehood. He had made the statement a day after returning from their party's July 20 Jantar Mantar protest, for statehood. He also said that the current central government won't grant Article 370 back to J&K and it will get a pretext to deny statehood as well, if his party demanded Article 370. Mehbooba lashed out at Omar saying that he wanted to give the people of J&K a sense of defeat. "Saying that Article 370 (restoration) can't be achieved, is like sprinkling acid on the hopes of people of J&K who gave them a two-third majority. He wants to give people a sense of defeat. He should refrain from doing that," she said. Responding to the criticism of not joining the NC's statehood protest despite the invitation, Mufti said that she had requested him to call an all party meeting and there all would have decided that only statehood will be talked about in Delhi. "Omar sb has not received the mandate for statehood only. He has been given the mandate for a much bigger thing and to mitigate the bigger difficulties. And for that we will continue to remind Omar sb even if he gets angry," she said. When asked that Omar said that Article 370 won't come back through the current union government, Mehbooba said why was then the issue mentioned in NC's manifesto. She said that Article 370 restoration was not a false hope. "I think Article 370 or any resolution vis a vis Kashmir issue is not a false hope, it is a reality which will be achieved sooner or later. Like in Ladakh, the central government was forced to give them Article 371 to secure their jobs and land," she said....