Farooq cautions separatists on talks
Srinagar Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and president of Opposition National Conference Farooq Abdullah has cautioned the separatists against entering into a dialogue with the BJP governmentled Centre saying it is neither sincere not ready to give them anything.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and president of the opposition National Conference ( NC), Dr Farooq Abdullah, has cautioned the separatists against entering into a dialogue with the Centre saying it is neither sincere not ready to give them anything.
“Don’t fall in the trap. They didn’t give us autonomy ( the resolution for) which was passed by the State Assembly and is within the ambit of the Constitution. What will they offer to you?,” he said in an interview to Greater Kashmir newspaper.
The BJP government at the Centre had recently said that it is willing to talk to separatists as well as Pakistan for seeking an amicable solution to the Kashmir imbroglio.
Reiterating it during his recent visit to Srinagar, home minister Rajnath Singh had said that the government is ready to hold talks with all stakeholders and believes that a dialogue needed “rightminded people” and not necessarily “like- minded people” to go well.
In their cautious response, an alliance of key separatist leaders had said that it was not in a hurry and that the issue would be discussed threadbare within the separatist echelons before taking a final call on it. Earlier in view of conflicting statements being made by various functionaries of the government, the alliance called ‘ Joint Resistance Leadership ( JRL)’ comprising Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik had asked the government to clear the ‘ ambiguity’ and ‘ speak in one language on what you want to talk about’.
Mr Abdullah has asked the separatists not to talk for the sake of talks unless the Centre comes up with a concrete proposal. “Don’t talk for the sake of talks. I don’t think they ( BJP) are ready to give you anything. They are not sincere in their intentions,” he has been quoted as saying.