FAROOQ SEEKS INVOLVEMENT OF J&K CITIZENS IN INDOPAK TALKS

: National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said that India and Pakistan should resume the dialogue process and engage people of Jammu and Kashmir in an acceptable solution, while addressing workers at Balakote, Mendhar, adding that sagacity lies in acknowledging the realities and shedding the baggage of the past.

Pitching for Indo-Pak dialogue, Farooq said internal autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir within the framework of the Constitution and conversion of Line of Control(LoC) into a line of peace was a pragmatic way forward to herald peace.

NC president reverted to the Indo-Pak hostilities in the nineties and said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had invited President Pervez Musharraf despite Kargil incursion and his political wisdom worked in terms of ceasefire agreement which brought cheer in the lives of border people for a pretty long time.

“Why can’t Vajpayee spirit be emulated by his political inheritors,” he asked.

The NC patron said the people of Jammu and Kashmir had decided their future in 1947 by acceding to Mahatma Gandhi’s secular India and they will fight all machinations of reversing these well-established credentials by polarising forces.

He said India is not a theocratic nation but a country of all, irrespective of religion, region and caste. This legacy cannot be trampled by fringe elements, currently holding the centre stage in Indian politics, as the majority of Hindus disapprove of politics of polarisation and division.

Farooq expressed grave concern over the dicey political situation across the country, saying he would keep his fingers crossed about the future in case the present dispensation is repeated in New Delhi in 2019.

NC chief cautioned people against the divisive politics, saying attempts are being made to create a wedge in the society on the basis of region and religion.

“All this is being done with a sinister motive of fragmenting Jammu and Kashmir into three different regions”, he said and warned those “nurturing this nightmarish dream”.

He said that Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and will remain a single entity and no power on the earth can disintegrate it.

JAMMU India and Pakistan should resume the dialogue process and engage people of Jammu and Kashmir in an acceptable solution FAROOQ ABDULLAH, NC patron