Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar July 21: National Conference (NC) patron and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah today described his removal as head of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association as hooliganism on part of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed led People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) Government.
Abdullah told a news conference here that they won’t be cowed down by “hooliganism” on part of Government and won’t tolerate it and will take a legal recourse to fight them out.
“They think by the Government they will do gunda raj (Hooliganism). That is not going to be acceptable. We are not gundas (hooligans) here. We will fight them in the legal battle. And that is what I want you to know. We are going to fight them legally to whatever court we have to go, we will go. But we are not going to cow down by their tactics”, said furious former Chief Minister.
The NC leader said that he is disappointed as the new body of the JKCA that was formed yesterday is full of people who are involved in the JKCA scam. “Well, they may do these things. But it is only we. And we will fight them. I am not going to take a gun or a lathi to beat them. But I feel sad that Imran shouldn’t have been part of it. I have respect for his father. Even when he was a Congress man, I took him as my Minister. I really feel sad that he should have become part of us. I know about Mehboob Iqbal. He has been trying it for long time. He will suffer fate of this, Insha Allah. I will go to Delhi and will talk to some people. They have brought those people who are involved in scams. This is disappointing”, he said.
The NC patron said that they were expecting something different from Mufti Mohammad Sayeed but he is not concerned about the suffering of people. “I am very sorry to tell Mufti sahib, this is not what we expected from him. We never thought that he is going to do these things. We thought he is going to do some developmental works for Kashmiris after they suffered of flood. They are still suffering. And are they waking up?”, he said.
The former Chief Minister accused Government of ignoring and dividing people. “I am very sorry. But, the present Government, instead of worrying about the peoples’ situation, are further dividing the people. That is why I thought; I should bring you to this place and tell you exactly the facts”, he said.
The NC patron said that the youth are being radicalized and instead of worrying about the State they are worried about themselves. “And are they (Government) waking up? The youth of Kashmir, instead of being channelised into right groups is becoming more radicalised. Are they worried about it? Are they thinking how to save that situation? No, they are only worried about saving themselves,” he said.
Abdullah said that police refused lodge an FIR against the new members of the JKCA for breaking the locks. “We went to register an FIR against ‘goondaism’ here yesterday. The concerned SHO refused to accept it and said he will first talk to DGP and IGP because there was a police officer with them (those who broke open the locks at JKCA) when they went, I don’t know what to do,” he said.
The NC leader said that holding of meeting and elections was against court directions. “Instead, they (PDP) came over when even there was a court order against the meeting and then after the meeting, they came, broke all locks of this place. Is that not against the court order?”, he said.
The former Chief Minister alleged that the SHO was afraid of accepting the FIR and said that India should wake up to the situation. “We filed an FIR. The SHO first refused to accept the FIR. Can you imagine? When ever FIR is filed, they should accept. Whether they like it or not. This is the tragedy of this Government. Should India not wake up to what is happening. Shouldn’t the right minded people start thinking about this? If this is how they are going to build democracy then I must tell them please be careful. Radicalisation will be to such an extent that it will be impossible to turn it back,” he said.
The NC patron said situation in the State is not under control and hoped that it does not go out of control. “The youth of Kashmir, instead of channelized into right groups, is becoming more radicalized. Are they worried about it? Are they thinking how to save that situation? No. They are worried only of saving themselves…please wake up. The situation is not under control. And I hope it doesn’t go out of control”, he said.
Abdullah said that media has a major role in building people’s minds and alleged that there are magazines that are coming in with atrocious propaganda. “You (media) play a major role in building peoples’ minds. There are magazines that are coming in with such atrocious propaganda. You must be knowing more about them. You should wake up about those magazines. What is happening to our youth? This (JKCA) was one place where we thought we could channelize the energies of youth towards betterment and we will continue to work for the youth, to give them better line of thinking and better future in the world”, he added.
The former Chief Minister said that he wants to protect the future of boys and girls of the State. “Farooq Abdullah is here to protect JKCA, our boys’ future. I am not interested in anything else except the promotion of our children, boys and girls on not only on Indian map but on international map. Our boys should get that privilege and that is why JKCA pay a huge to bring coaches from outside and now when we have determination of further having our own coaches, two here and two in Jammu so that further training can be given to our boys so that they meet the challenges of top players. We have also got senior person coming to coach our children from outside. And why are not they happy about it?”, he said.
The NC leader said that he has not taken a single penny from JKCA but gave money from his Constituency Development Fund for development of sports infrastructure. “What is the problem? Is it that Farooq Abdullah is the thief, let them prove it; that Farooq Abdullah has taken one penny from JKCA. Rather Farooq gave money to JKCA from my own parliamentary fund. I gave money for the development of grounds of both SP and Amar Singh Colleges, so that we could have privilege of playing on these fields which would be worth, at least not international standards, some standard. Same way we are building other colleges so that our children can play on better grounds and have that facility”, he said.
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