No peace in J&K unless India, Pak talk: Farooq Abdullah

Srinagar: Opposition National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah said on Saturday that peace will not return to Jammu and Kashmir unless New Delhi engages Islamabad in talks on outstanding issues. He also said that the claims of normalcy returning to Kashmir are contrary to existing ground situation in the Valley.

He said, “Both India and Pakistan have nuclear capabilities and arsenals. Those advocating violence and war are living in a fool’s paradise. Their rhetoric is aimed at their own local constituencies”. He added, “There is no other alternative but to talk and take into account the practical limitations of both sides”.

Mr Abdullah who has served Jammu and Kashmir as chief minister thrice said that conflicts are resolved with innovation and imagination and not by shrill slogans and stentorian and moralistic press statements. “This conflict has inflicted enormous human, economic and political costs on the people of Kashmir and they deserve a resolution now – not ten years later, not fifty years later and not hundred years later - but now. We cannot sacrifice the dreams and aspirations of another generation in Kashmir. The time has come for both India and Pakistan to understand that they owe it to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to resolve this issue as per their sentiment once for all. We have bled enough”, he said while speaking at a public meeting at Hardpanzoo in central district of Budgam.

He urged both India and Pakistan to initiate dialogue on all outstanding issues especially that of Kashmir “in a sincere effort to usher the sub-continent into a corrective era of stability and mutual cooperation.”