PDP-BJP ruined J&K: Omar
Sanjeev Pargal/
Fayaz Bukhari
JAMMU/ SRINAGAR, Oct 29: Within minutes of his re-election as National Conference president, former Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah today took on both ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Opposition Congress charging former with trying to “silence’’ the voice of Kashmiri people and latter with snatching autonomy of people of the State. He also cautioned the Army against trying to “crush people with force’’ saying such tactics wouldn’t work now.
Addressing delegates’ session of the National Conference at Sher-i-Kashmir cricket stadium, Srinagar this morning after party unanimously re-elected him as the president, Dr Abdullah targeted Congress, the former coalition partner of NC, saying he has regrets with the Congress too.
“This (the Congress) is the party, which had snatched our autonomy. We need our autonomy back,’’ he said and justified statement of former Union Home Minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram calling for restoration of autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir.
Click here to Watch Video
“I regret what the Congress has done as well. They have taken away all that was ours,’’ he said in a direct attack on the party with which National Conference was in power from 2008 to 2014 and even shared “undeclared alliance’’ with them in the Opposition as well.
“What are you waiting for? Restore us our autonomy,’’ he thundered as party delegated shouted slogans like “Farooq Abdullah Aage Bado, Hum Tumhare Saath Hain (Move ahead, Farooq Abdullah, we are with you)’’.
Asserting that people of Jammu and Kashmir are not traitors, Dr Abdullah reminded the Centre that they had united with India with love but their everything (a reference towards autonomy) was snatched.
Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP Government at the Centre, Farooq said: “the present dispensation thinks that they will crush Kashmiris with force’’ but declared: “no force can forcibly silence voice of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh’’.
He said the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh will not embrace you (the Centre) till you do not try to win the hearts of the people. “And if you want to win our hearts, then return our autonomy to us’’.
Taking on Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, without naming him, Farooq Abdullah referred to a statement of the General that the Army will go ahead with its operations.
“How many people you will kill? You can’t crush the people with gun. You can’t kill our emotions with gun,’’ Dr Abdullah said, adding that “we are alive today and we will be alive tomorrow to fight you’’.
He went on: “Listen to us General Ji. How many people you will kill and arrest. We are not afraid. You can’t curb what we want. Do not try to browbeat us. The issue of Kashmir is a political one and till you do not resolve this political issue, peace will not be established (in the State).”
Attacking the Centre, he said, “You tell the Amarnath pilgrims not to spend a single penny on shopping in Kashmir as all of us are anti-nationals. We are not anti-nationals, you are anti-national because you have hurt our hearts. You (Centre) are not our providers, but our provider is God.”
Maintaining that New Delhi had “used many a tactics” in the past to curb terrorism in the Valley, Dr Abdullah said, it was now saying that militancy was alive in Kashmir because of terror-funding from Pakistan.
“Now they say that money comes from Pakistan and other countries to keep militancy alive here…They have even arrested (Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed) Salahuddin’s son and grandson,” he added.
The NC chief alleged that the Centre was sending money to Kashmir to wipe out his party from the State.
Criticizing demonetization and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the State, Farooq said, “They (Centre) said demonetization would put an end to militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, but it has increased.”
On the appointment of former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as the Centre’s Interlocutor on Kashmir, Dr Abdullah said talks were meaningless till there were statements calling for the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
“Talks cannot happen under the barrel of the gun. They will happen when your (Centre’s) hearts are clean, when you will not say that you want to abrogate Article 370. Talks are meaningless till then,” he said.
Dr Abdullah also lashed out at BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav for his statements on Kashmir without pin-pointing any of his remarks.
Farooq said that the NC would grant “regional autonomy” to various regions of the State if it comes to power in the next Assembly elections.
“We have to focus towards this also that we have so many regions in the state which have their own aspirations. We have to look towards them also. We had formed a committee on regional autonomy. (NC leader Mohammad) Shafi (Uri) submitted a report also on that in which eight regions of the State have been discussed,” Dr Abdullah said.
He said granting “regional autonomy” to various regions of the state would restore the rights of the people and it was something which the State Government did not have to seek from the Centre.
“We do not have to get it from Delhi. If God bestows us with success (in the polls), then the first thing which we will do once we are in the Assembly and take the chairs is to restore the rights of the people and in a legal manner by passing it under laws,” Dr Abdullah said.
He said the party would meet soon to discuss the issue.
“We are meeting in Jammu over the issue in which we will discuss how to give it a legal shape. I want to tell you from this stage that we will implement it,” he said.
The National Conference unanimously passed a resolution at the Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium where thousands of party delegates participated in the day-long session.
In the resolution, the party vowed to continue its struggle for restoration of autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir as enshrined in the Constitution of India.
“We continue to strive for the restoration of autonomy and restoration of Article 370 to its original, pristine form, while condemning those divisive voices who are opposed to the sovereign Constitutional guarantees extended to the people of the State,” the resolution passed at a delegates’ session of the National Conference in Srinagar read.
It said National Conference has always worked within the Constitutional parameters that enshrined the State’s special status.
The party said the Kashmir issue should be solved through a sustained dialogue with both internal and external stakeholders, an apparent reference to separatists and Pakistan.
“The recently announced initiative through a representative of the Government of India should have clarity and seriousness of purpose to ensure the sanctity of the institution of dialogue is restored and upheld,” the party resolution said.
Calling for a political initiative, the party said a singular focus on military and operational mechanism to deal with the Kashmir issue “in the absence of a political initiative” is a “dangerous” approach and continues to alienate the people.
“We urge both India and Pakistan to initiate a sustained, sustainable and comprehensive dialogue process to resolve all outstanding issues,” it said.
The State of Jammu and Kashmir is the “worst victim of animosity” between the two neighbouring countries and has the most to benefit from mutual cooperation and peace between the two countries, the party said.
“It is for this purpose that our party wishes to see the Shimla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration to be rejuvenated to usher the entire subcontinent, especially Jammu and Kashmir, into an era of peace and stability,” it added.
Farooq Abdullah, 80, was re-elected unanimously as president of the party in the delegates’ session. He was first appointed as the party president in 1981 and had continued to hold the post, except from 2002 to 2009.
In 2002, Farooq Abdullah had passed the baton to his son, Omar Abdullah, who was then a Minister of State for External Affairs in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA Government. Omar Abdullah, however, resigned from the post in 2009 after taking over as the Chief Minister of the State. In January 2009, Abdullah was again elected party president and he continued to hold the post.
Farooq Abdullah had offered to step down once again to make his son the party president but Omar Abdullah declined to lead the party. He told the gathering that he did not wish to continue. “I thank you all for electing me president but I did not want to continue as the party president as I’m getting old. Doctors have so far not been able to invent an injection to reverse ageing, even as I’m myself a doctor,” he said.
“I wanted Omar to take this responsibility, so that you leave me, but he said no. He had told me that he will take this responsibility some day. But I want to assure you that he will have to take this responsibility one day,” he said amid loud cheers from party activists.
On the occasion, Omar Abdullah congratulated his father and said becoming the party president in 2002 was a mistake he did not want to repeat.
He said Farooq Abdullah wanted them to take away the responsibility from his shoulders and he forced party general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar to call delegates’ session for new election.
“I requested him a lot and forced him saying that in 2002, a similar function was held here and that time party choose me as president. Today, my experience tells me that perhaps we made the decision in hurry and we should not have let you (go),” Omar Abdullah said.
He said the party needed Farooq Abdullah more because of the prevailing situation in the State.
“Whatever happened, has happened. But this time, I am not ready to repeat that mistake…And in today’s time, when our State is facing so many difficulties and challenges and when the NC is being targeted, we cannot leave you,” he said.
The former Chief Minister told Farooq Abdullah that the party was behind him and would benefit from his experience.
Speaking on the occasion, Omar accused PDP-BJP Government of ruining the State.
“I am disappointed over the fact that the situation in which we handed over the Government of this State to PDP and BJP has not remained same. They ruined this State. There is not a single area of this State where people are not complaining and where people are not in distress and where people might be expressing disappointing over their 2014 decision (of voting for PDP-BJP). What they say is ‘mistakes of seconds leads to punishment of centuries’. Today we have idea about the consequences that we have to face due to this Government’s coming into power. Today, we are in such an era when youths whom we used to employ in police prefer to become militants”, he said.
The NC leader said that if his mistakes led to creation of Burhan Wani, then Mehbooba created more Wanis.
“To Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, I remember your speech in which you said that Omar Abdullah created Burhan Wani. If my mistakes resulted in creation of Burhan Wani, then I am responsible but for God’s sake, please tell me how many Burhan Wanis and Zakir Musas have been created by you in these three years”, he asked.
“Your acts set this State on fire in 2016. But not a single of our associates demanded chair or resignation from you. We went to Delhi, met the President, Prime Minister and many leaders of opposition. We spoke about the resolution of Kashmir issue. We spoke other things but none of us demanded your resignation. Look at the difference. When I had to undergo similar conditions (in 2010) and you were locking up Secretariat and that time you and Late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed knocked every door of Delhi and said ‘Omar Abdullah should be sacked from chair and situation will improve instantly’. Did you forget that? May be would be regretting what you did that time. May be today you might have understood the difficulties that are faced while being on chair”, he said.
Omar said that they were waiting for words for three and a half years for words which PM spoke from Red Fort.
“After one-and-a-half year (since agitation raged in Kashmir against Burhan Wani’s death), the Prime Minister spoke from Red Fort and we got to hear those words from his mouth for which we were waiting since three-and-a-half years. He said that Kashmir won’t be solved by abuses and instead Kashmiris should be embraced. Only then issues would be resolved. Wish, the Cabinet associates of Prime Minister, should have listened to your (PM) speech. It seems your Cabinet associates were sleeping calmly that time. None of them pondered over your speech”, he added.
Omar lashed out at the statement of Arun Jaitley on those who are seeking autonomy are anti-national. “… a senior Minister (Arun Jaitley) who is also member of Cabinet Committee on Security said ‘those who even talk of internal Autonomy are anti-nationals’. We don’t have to achieve internal autonomy from Pakistan, Russia or Britain but we have to achieve it from Indian Constitution which is already there”, he said.
The NC leader said that party will continue to strive for safeguarding the identity of the State.
“I as a Chief Minister had said in Assembly that J&K has acceded, not merged with India. We have safeguarded our identity. We have our own Constitution, flag and you cannot compare us with other States. When accession occurred, the Centre was responsible for three things: Currency, Defence and Foreign Affairs. It is mentioned in the constitution and when we say it (Autonomy) should be restored, you are calling us anti-national”, he said.
“I am sorry Arun Jaitley but if speaking under the ambit of Constitution and achieving something under Constitution, then we are proud anti-nationals and we have no objection. Call us anti-nationals and will accept it. If achieving anything under Indian constitution is anti-national, let it be but please tell me what is for what then the interlocutor whom you have appointed for talks coming here? If speaking on internal autonomy is anti-national then what talks we have to do”, he asked.
Omar lashed out at Centre for double standards on recent announcement made by Home Minister on peace and reconciliation in Kashmir.
“When your MoS PMO says there is no Kashmir issue, then for what you are coming to talk? If Dineshwar Sharma comes here to enjoy beauty and environment then it is alright, we won’t object but please don’t keep us and people of Kashmir in dark because today we are in distress and we fail to understand what the reason behind appointment of interlocutor is. That because so many statements have come ever since you have announced the appointment of Dineshwar Sharma and he himself would be confused over the aim of his appointment. When Union Home Minister announced that Dineshwar Sharma would be ‘our representative, there would be sustained dialogue and talks would be held on genuine demands’, so it was good and this is what we were waiting for. The Chief Minister called a hurriedly press conference because she wasn’t aware about this before. She said this is a good decision and talks would be held with everyone and without any conditions. (She said) Hurriyat too would be included. This is good and she even called him interlocutor”, he said.
“Then MoS PMO said Sharma is no interlocutor and he is like a chief spokesman and he will go, hold talks and this is no issue and we won’t hold any talks with Hurriyat. Then MoS Home Ministry, he also said same that no talks would be held with Hurriyat…This won’t work. Kindly, I have a request for Centre. Please stop resorting to issuing statements…and the way you did ‘note bandi’ please do ‘zuban bandi’ of these Ministers, otherwise the initiative you are starting would end before beginning which would be unfortunate for this State and its people”, said Omar.
“From last 27 years, we have been grinded with the barrel of gun. Today, the situation is that the person who comes out vote is tied to a jeep and then paraded in 9-10 villages”, said Omar.
Omar said Kashmir issue can’t be resolved through barrel of gun.
“You are claiming peace by inviting some people to sing here at SKICC. But don’t be in this misunderstanding that issue would be resolved by this. Jammu and Kashmir’s issue was, is and until you with good intent won’t try to resolve it, will not disappear. The Jammu and Kashmir issue’s resolution won’t be purchased by money nor achieved through gun barrel. If there is solution of Jammu and Kashmir, then it is in dialogue, both internal and external. The solution of issue would come through talks”, he said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
