Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday credited China for the development of the border areas of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, amid a heated verbal exchange in the Assembly over which Kashmir is more developed.

Omar appeared to be making a candid admission that the border areas of PoK were more developed than the ones on the Jammu and Kashmir side but added that it was just a facade. He said the development was restricted to only border areas while the story was the opposite if one went deeper into the PoK.

The controversy erupted after National Conference MLA Saifullah Mir claimed Kashmir was more developed than the other parts of his constituency. Mir represents the Trehgam constituency in Kupwara, which shares a border with PoK. BJP legislators reacted sharply to the comparison and asked the Speaker to expunge the words.

It is a common complaint in the border areas of the Valley that PoK is more developed. Mir received the support of some legislators, including Gurez MLA Nazir Gurezi who appeared to say residents across the border are seen wearing expensive clothes.

“If you accept the truth, what Nazir Gurezi said is not wrong but he did not complete his statement. Has there not been a lot of development on the other side of the border? It was got done. But if you go a little further on the border, there is nothing. They have done everything on the border for a show-off,” Omar said.

“It is not on their own. Whatever has happened there is China’s kindness. But whatever we did, whether less or more, it was on our own.”

Omar said that the border MLAs, including Mir and Gurezi, were not wrong about the situation in the border areas of Kashmir.

“The situation there is very bad. But we did not seek assistance from any other country. We did not tell China, Britain, America or France to make our roads. If there is a road (on the other side), it is because of China’s kindness,” he said.

“They (PoK residents) do wear the coats but there is no money in it,” he added.

Mir and Gurezi’s constituencies include the Keran and Gurez sectors of the LoC, which remain cut off for months during winters because of snowfall. Both were repeating the old demand of connecting their areas by tunnels.