Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has said that India does not have the required courage and nerve to snatch PoK from Pakistan. In continuation with some of his recent controversial statements on Kashmir, he mocked New Delhi for saying that PoK is a part of India.
In what is being perceived as his new strategy to regain public support for his party, the National Conference, Farooq Abdullah has been attacking New Delhi and Islamabad for not resolving the Kashmir dispute while emerging as the biggest advocate of unconditional talks with the separatists.
“Kya yeh tumhare baap ka hai (is this your father’s property)?” Abdullah asked New Delhi while addressing a function in Kishtwar area of the Chenab valley on Friday. Farooq Abdullah along with his son Omar is currently on tour of the entire Chenab region and has earlier told this newspaper that he will visit this communally sensitive region “to frustrate the designs of the RSS to start communal tensions”.
Talking to this reporter earlier, Farooq Abdullah showed willingness to plunge in the field to garner support for NC as he feels that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and her People’s Democratic Party have lost all good will in the Kashmir valley.
Farooq said New Delhi too should understand that the Mehbooba government has lost all moral authority to rule in J&K. Lashing out at Pakistan, the NC veteran said that the neighbouring country can never snatch Kashmir from India.
He also severely criticised escalating tensions on the borders between India and Pakistan. Farooq Abdullah advised India and Pakistan to start talks at the earliest to save the border residents of J&K.
Farooq Abdullah had earlier asked India and Pakistan to restore autonomy in both parts of Kashmir as a solution to this long pending issue.
He said that borders cannot be changed but both the countries can make them irrelevant by allowing both parts of Kashmir to prosper and live in peace.
He said that Kashmir is a political problem and cannot be solved by sending troops or by arresting thousands of people.