We are with you, Farooq tells Hurriyat
SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah has asked Hurriyat to unite under a single banner and also offered them his party’s support.
Farooq ,who was addressing the party workers at the mausoleum of his father and NC founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah on Monday, said the NC is with the Hurriyat “at this hour of need”.
“I ask the Hurriyat leaders to unite under the one banner. We are standing by your side at this hour of need. Don’t think of us as your adversaries. We are not your adversaries.”
“The agitation, which is on in the Valley, is about people’s aspiration, their rights, their self respect. We (NC) have always worked for Kashmir’s right to self determination and we will always do so,’’ he said.
The senior Abdullah asked his party workers not to stay away from this “rightful agitation”. “We cannot reach this goal till we are together,” the former CM added. He said his party is not ready to tread the wrong path . “Move ahead. We are with you until you keep treading the right path and til you guide this nation on the right path,” he said.
Abdullah said it was Maharaja Hari Singh and not his father who had accessed with India. “The accession was just regarding three things — defence, communication and foreign affairs,’’ he said, adding, “He was promised right to self determination.” Abdullah said the unrest will go on until both, India and Pakistan, do justice to people of Kashmir.
He asked people to stop going to Delhi with a begging bowl as the path of azadi (freedom) is not easy.
“As long as we keep going to Delhi with a begging bowl we will not get azadi.You have to come together and give up your luxuries,’’ he said.
Abdullah urged both the countries — India and Pakistan — to come together on the dialogue table to resolve the Kashmir issue. “Youth are still being thrown in jail. They are being killed. Children have been blindly arrested,” Abdullah said.