- Ex-IHK CM says no one can ignore Hurriyat, stone pelters, as they are part of state
National Conference party leader Farooq Abdullah, a former chief minister of Indian-held Jammu Kashmir, has called for the immediate imposition of governor’s rule to control ‘communal’ tensions in the disputed state.
“We have never been promoters of governor’s rule; we have always opposed it. But there is no other way,” the Press Trust of India (PTI) news service quoted him as saying. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted a ‘peaceful end’ to the situation in the disputed state which is reeling under unrest for months, he said.
“I can’t tell you what I discussed with Prime Minister Modi. All I can say is that he is concerned about the situation in the state and wants to an end to it. A peaceful end to it,” he said. Accusing Mehbooba Mufti government of failing on all fronts, he said that not just south Kashmir, the entire valley was in the grip of tragedies.
“These tragedies are adding to communal tension in the rest of the nation. So the quicker we settle this problem, (the quicker) would we be able to control the fire which is coming to a boiling stage,” Abdullah noted. He also appealed to fringe elements in India’s ruling party – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – to not make any provocative statements on Kashmir.
“Let there be one voice. When the (Indian) prime minister himself wants peace, others should listen to that,” he said. He stressed that Chief Minster Mehbooba Mufti should have resigned on the day the centre gave in writing to the Supreme Court that it would not talk to Hurriyat Conference. She (Mehbooba) had repeatedly asked for talks with all stakeholders.
“That completely baffles me because the PDP-BJP’s agenda says they will talk to all. So if that agenda is gone, what is Madam (Mehbooba) Mufti doing on the chair? Should she not say goodbye and walk out if she has any honour left?” he asked, and pointed out that he had resigned as chief minister when the VP Singh government posted Jagmohan as governor in 1990.
“It is not the chair I love, it is the people,” he said. Asked why there was no end to Kashmir’s unrest, he said the militancy of the nineties was different from that now. “Today the movement is different, because of the false promise of PDP leader Mufti Mohammed Sayed when he went for the elections with the promise to keep BJP and the RSS out. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, he brought in the very people he had promised to keep away,” he noted.
“Part of this struggle is because of that betrayal — the trust that you betrayed — has raised its head,” he said. He pointed out that most of the unrest was in the south, which was Mehbooba Mufti’s stronghold. He said the RSS’s hold over the state government had added fuel to the unrest.
“Keep the assembly in suspended animation, and when things are brought round and people see a better, forward-looking government, let the assembly be restored,” he said. In the two months of the governor’s rule in January last year, Kashmiris had seen good governance. “It was during the short period of governor’s rule that flood relief money was disbursed to the poorest of the poor without any political favours,” he said.
Abdullah reacted angrily when asked why his statements were seen as pro-Hurriyat whenever he was out of power. “I have never wanted power. At least I never ran after power. If that was the case, wouldn’t we have joined the BJP to form a coalition government when they asked us to?” he questioned.
“Are ‘separatists’ (Hurriyat) not a part of the state? Are stone pelters not a part of the state? So if they are a part of the state, how can we ignore them and find justice for them?” he asked. Abdullah reiterated that the state’s troubles would disappear once the governor’s rule is imposed.
