The Chief Minister of India's Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) state, Omar Abdullah, resigned Tuesday after an opposition lawmaker accused him of involvement in a sex scandal. An angry Abdullah denied the allegation but said he couldn't continue in office until the issue was resolved. “I cannot work as the chief minister until my name is cleared. It is a blot on my character,” the 38-year-old Abdullah, the troubled region's youngest chief minister, said. The resignation came shortly after Muzaffar Hussain Baig, a leader of Kashmir's main opposition People's Democratic Party, said Abdullah was involved in the scandal in a speech in the state assembly. The scandal, in which girls, some of them minors, were said to be supplied to politicians, bureaucrats, police officials, sparked weeks of violent protests across J&K 2006 after it was uncovered. That year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the country's federal police, arrested two former state ministers and lawmakers but later freed them on bail. The scandal is still under investigation by the authorities. India's state television Doordarshan said Abdullah had never figured in the CBI's investigations into the case involving 40 women and underage girls whose clients allegedly included politicians, bureaucrats, security officials and businessmen in the conservative Muslim-majority state. Davinder Rana, Abdullah's top aide, said Abdullah had had asked for an inquiry into the allegations when he handed his resignation letter in to the state governor. Hundreds of his supporters took to the streets of Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar chanting “Long live Omar Abdullah” and burning effigies of Baig. Abdullah, 39, came to power in state elections last year following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. His administration has been faced with daily protests over the rape and murder of two young Muslim women whose bodies were found in late May. Their families have blamed the security forces for the crime. – AgenciesCBI clears Abdullah NEW DELHI – The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday conveyed to the Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's name does not figure in any of the charge sheets filed in the 2006 sex scandal. “CBI has sent its report to the Ministry of Home Affairs and to the Speaker in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. It is for them to issue further information or clarification in this regard since Parliament is in session,” a CBI spokesman said. u The Congress party, which holds power in New Delhi, also rallied behind Abdullah, passing a joint resolution with Abdullah's National Conference party in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly expressing full confidence in the beleaguered chief minister.
