Restore autonomy to end Kashmir imbroglio, says Farooq Abdullah
It also asked the government at the Centre to end what it alleged is its muscular policy' vis- -vis the State.
Srinagar: The Opposition National Conference (NC) on Sunday revived its demand for restoration of greater autonomy in Jammu and Kashmir as existed before the dismissal and detention of its legendary leader and then Prime Minister, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, on August 9, 1953.
It also asked the government at the Centre to end what it alleged is its ‘muscular policy’ vis-à-vis the State. “And if New Delhi wants to win the hearts and minds of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, it must restore the autonomy to the state,” said former chief minister, Farooq Abdullah, after being re-elected as the NC president at its delegate conference which was held here after a gap of 15 years.
He asked, “If we talk about the conditions of the accession and autonomy today, should we be labelled as traitors and anti- nationals? Is this the gift of our loyalty? We acceded to you (India) with love, but you did not understand our love and took away all that we had. Then you ask, why we do not embrace you”. Mr Abdullah’s statement came amid a raging controversy over former Union finance minister and senior Congress leader P.Chidambaram’s statement that when people of the Valley ask for “aazadi”, most of them mean they want greater autonomy. The NC president asserted that the three regions of the state namely the Kashmir Valley, Jammu and Ladakh “will not embrace you till you don’t try to win the hearts of the people”. He reiterated that if the Centre wants to win the hearts of the people of the state “then return our autonomy to us.” His son and working president of the party who also served the state as chief minister between 2009 and 2015 said that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, should ensure his ministers and party leaders do not issue conflicting statements on the issue of Kashmir. He said that after the home minister, Rajnath Singh, announced the appointment of Dineshwar Sharma, a former chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB) and a 1979 batch IP officer, as the Centre’s new interlocutor on Kashmir various ministers at the Centre and in J&K government and also BJP leaders were issuing conflicting and contradictory statement on his mandate and the issue of Kashmir itself. He said that state minister at PMO, Jitendra Singh’s, remark that “there is no such things as Kashmir issue”, has come around the appointment of new interlocutor.
He asked that if there was no Kashmir issue why did the Centre then appoint Sharma as its special representative for holding a sustained dialogue with the stakeholders in the restive State. “I’m afraid these conflicting statements may only confuse Sharma Sahib,” he said.