Quickest way to erode Gen Z goodwill is to use it as a threat: J&K CM Omar

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday (August 19, 2026) warned that using the ‘Gen Z’ tag as a threat will quickly lead to the erosion of any goodwill for the youth.

Mr. Abdullah was commenting on a video in which a young woman could be seen raising her voice against the Ladakh police at a checkpoint. The girl in the video said, “We are Gen Z and we are not going to tolerate this.”

Reacting to the video on X, Mr. Abdullah wrote: “This ‘we are Gen Z’ has become the new ‘jaantay nahin ho mera baap kaun hai’. The quickest way to erode any Gen Z goodwill is to start using it as a threat at the slightest perceived affront.”

In the undated video which surfaced on social media, the woman was aggrieved about being stopped near Minimarg in the Ladakh region, a place famous for being the gateway between Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

She claimed that the people had been made to wait there for five hours. “We pay from our pockets to visit and they are doing this to us. Earlier they used to do this to Kashmiris (only), now they are doing it with tourists as well,” she added.

The woman staged a dharna at the checkpost and did not allow even an Army convoy to proceed towards a transit camp. The situation was brought under control after the district officials convinced her.

The woman’s remarks against the Army have drawn criticism from former Army officers who said her behaviour towards men in uniform was uncalled for.