Consider Greater Autonomy to fulfill aspirations of all regions: Farooq

Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Aug 30: Maintaining  that Pakistan can never annex Jammu and Kashmir from India, former Chief Minister and National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah today reiterated that Greater Autonomy was solution to fulfill  aspirations of  all regions as well as  sub-regions of the State.
“You (people) should not feel disappointed on border tension as Pakistan cannot win from us. Whether they drop 10 or 20 bombs, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh will never be the part of Pakistan,” he said while addressing in a function to pay homage to noted intellectual and Padam Bhushan Balraj Puri on his first death anniversary, here today.
However, Dr Abdullah hastened to add that a way forward for friendship between the two neighbouring countries has to be evolved and predicted that a day would come when Pakistan will itself look for a way out to have friendly relations with India.
Reiterating that Regional Autonomy has to be considered to solve all the problems and fulfill aspirations of three regions as well as sub-regions of the State, Dr Abdullah stressed the need for strengthening communal harmony and understanding each other for making J&K stronger
“Jammu has its own aspirations. All the regions in the State have their aspirations and we have to think about all of them,” he said and added that Jammu is the gateway of Kashmir whereas Kashmir is the gateway of Ladakh. “If Jammu does not exist where will Kashmir go? Kashmir cannot go to China. There is no question of going to Pakistan. We all will die,” he said.
“How long we will remain divided on the lines of caste and religion. How long will they keep on saying that Kashmir is different, Jammu is different and Ladakh is different? Whereas we send a message across the border that we are one. This State is one even if its name is in three parts- Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh,” he further said.
While paying tributes to Balraj Puri, Dr Abdullah termed the latter as a champion of the cause of uniting all the three regions of the State. “He (Balraj Puri) did not limit himself to Jammu or any region and so like me, who stands for India,” he said amidst applause by the audience.
Later, responding to a media query about the recently released religious Census and the purported remarks of RSS about threat of ‘Islamization of Bharat’ due to increasing Muslim population, Farooq Abdullah said there was “no threat to Bharat” with the growth of the Muslim community. “I don’t know about their (RSS) statement but I can tell you one thing that India belongs to all of us—whether we are Muslims, whether we are Hindus, Sikhs or Christians. Whoever is an Indian, the country belongs to everyone,” he said, adding that there was no such thing that their (Muslim) population has grown and they posed a danger. “There is no such danger. A Muslim is as Indian as anybody else is,” he said.
To another query, the National Conference president supported the demand for ‘One Rank, One Pension’ (OROP) by ex-servicemen, saying the Central Government should fulfill the “promise” made to the veterans. “That (OROP) has been agreed on in Parliament when the other Government was there. The OROP should be given. That is the promise that the earlier Government has made. I think this Government should fulfill this promise made to them (ex-serviceman),” he said.
Earlier, Speaker J&K Legislative Assembly Kavinder Gupta, who was chief guest on the occasion, paid his tributes to Balraj Puri and suggested that a book should be compiled on thoughts of the latter.  He termed Balraj Puri as a movement who gave his entire life for social cause.
Contribution of Balraj Puri in bridging the regional gap can not be ignored and exclusion of word ‘And’ from Jammu and Kashmir as State will be true tribute to him,” Kavinder said.
CPI (M) leader and MLA Mohd Yousuf Tarigami recalled the contribution of Balraj Puri towards strengthening communal and regional harmony who gave scientific formula to empower all the groups and sub-regions. “Balraj Puri was not only an intellectual but a passionate human being who propagated that Kashmir identity has to accommodate Jammu identity and vice-versa,” he added.
Prof Lalit Magotra, Masood Choudhary, Lalit Gupta, Capt Yudhvir Singh, Com Sukhbir Singh and S Narinder Singh also spoke on the occasion and recalled the contribution of Balraj Puri to different fields of art, culture, literature and society as the whole.
The programme ‘Contemporary relevance of Balraj Puri’s ideas for Jammu and Kashmir’ was organized by the Institute of J&K Affairs. Elora Puri presented vote of thanks.
On the occasion, a resolution was also passed for establishing  a ‘Chair’  in the name of Balraj Puri in one of the State Universities to honour his work.

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