Omar Abdullah demands statehood first, then elections.
Srinagar: In a joint press conference on Saturday, both Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah said that in the meeting with the Prime Minister they have not talked anything outside the agenda of the Gupkar alliance and claimed that the fight for the restoration of Article 370 will be carried on, though peacefully and constitutionally.
Omar Abdullah said that for the delimitation exercise, he has expressed his apprehensions and the party has authorized Dr Farooq Abdullah to take a call if the commission approached National Conference for any deliberations as the three MPs of National Conference from Kashmir are the associate members of the commission.
Omar Abdullah made it clear that all the parties and the leaders from Jammu and Kashmir in the meeting with the Prime Minister have made it clear that first statehood should be restored, then they will participate in the elections.
National Conference president and member parliament Farooq Abdullah said, “Let’s not jump and see if the Centre was ready to remove mistrust existing on the ground in Jammu and Kashmir.”
He said that the central government has a history of breaking promises with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and it all started with late Pandit Jawarhar Lal Nehru who first promised plebiscite and later broke the promise. Farooq Abdullah said that it was followed by the promise of restoration of complete autonomy by then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and he also broke the promise.
While talking to the media after all-party meeting, Farooq Abdullah said that they were waiting and watching how the BJP government will build trust with the mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir. “I tell you frankly there is a level of mistrust and that mistrust has to be removed and how you (GoI) remove it, you have to decide. That is why Dr Karan Singh, if you see today’s newspaper, said that statehood must be given first,” Farooq Abdullah was quoted by the media saying in the press conference.
Omar Abdullah told the media that both Mehbooba Mufti and Dr Farooq Abdullah talked in detail that they will fight for the restoration of Article 370 and 35A even if it takes years.
Omar said, “Mehboobaji and Farooq sahib” said that it took BJP 70 years to fulfill its agenda and “if it takes us 70 weeks or 70 months, or whatever time it takes, we will not retract from our mission.”