Entire Indian
Army cannot defend Kashmir against terrorists, dialogue only option, says
Farooq Abdullah
Jammu: Dialogue is the only way forward for a resolution to the Kashmir
issue, former chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said even as he held
that nothing has been done to reclaim Pakistan-occupied Kashmir from the
neighbouring country while reiterating views that have invited criticism.
"The only way left is to hold dialogue and find a solution (to the
Kashmir issue)," the National Conference leader said at a function in
Jammu.
"Ever since I came into politics, I have always said that this
state (PoK and J-K) can never become one. Neither do we have the power to take
back their part (PoK) nor have they (Pakistan) the power to take our part; we
are a nuclear power and they, too, are," he said at a discussion by civil
society to explore the ways for bringing peace and reconciliation between the
two countries.
"How much can the army defend us; even if the entire army of India
came to our rescue, they cannot defend us against terrorists or militants. The
only way left is to hold dialogue and find a solution," he stressed.
He said he was hopeful that the Kashmir issue would be solved during the
tenure of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but that did not happen.
In the wake of his comments on Friday, he blamed the media for hyping up
his statement and said his views about Pakistan continuing to hold PoK and
India keeping J&K could not be the only scenario and he would accept any
decision which was acceptable to the majority of people in India, Pakistan and
J&K.
"I never said it was the ultimate solution that they keep their
part and we keep ours. If you have a better solution acceptable to a majority
of Indians, Pakistanis and J&K citizens, it is also acceptable to us,"
he said while urging that dialogue has to be started for reaching a resolution.
Referring to the 1994 Parliament resolution on PoK, Farooq said nothing
has been done following its adoption unanimously to reclaim area under
Pakistani occupation.
"They say there is a resolution in Parliament; but tell me what the
Parliament has done so far to reclaim that part.
"You passed the resolution, tell me how many resolutions are there
in United Nations regarding Kashmir; have any of those been implemented. People
on both sides are suffering due to the cross-border firing," he said.
Meanwhile, BJP on Saturday sought an apology from Abdullah for his
remarks that "PoK is part of Pakistan" and said he was
"deliberately raking up" the issue in order to remain in news for his
political survival.
"For how many years have we been saying that it (PoK) is part of
India. What have we done so far, have we ever taken it back," he had said
on Friday.
The former J&K chief minister said that even though Nawaz Sharif was
heading the government in Pakistan, the real power was in the hands of the army
there.
Further, claiming that if Pakistan army wanted, it would not take more
than two minutes for it to get Sharif removed, he said, "The day problems
between India and Pakistan are resolved, Pakistan army will lose its
significance."
He said that a former Pakistan external affairs minister had told him
that before the Prime Ministers of the two nations decide to meet, all
roadblocks that may impede any meaningful dialogue need to be removed.
On the issue of the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, he said that the
country has till date not been able to accomplish that.
"When I tried to do it, the very same day two massacres took place
in Ganderbal and Budgam in which innocent and unarmed Kashmiri Pandits were
killed.
"How will the situation improve till the time Pakistan does not
understand that this part of J&K will never become their part," he
said.
Recalling that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had tried to find a
way out in Egypt's Sharm-al-Sheikh, Abdullah said that the attempt had evoked a
backlash in the country and within Congress.
"There was a hue and cry in India and even in his own party which
said that if you talk friendship with Pakistan we will lose elections. Let
these elections go to hell which divide the people," he said.
"Every election makes India weak and does not strengthen it",
he said, adding that "we get divided into religions and even divide
religion into small parts".
Seeking to caution India and Pakistan against America, he claimed that
the country was a friend of neither of the two South Asian neighbours and was
only interested in selling its weapons to both.
Talking about the Kashmir problem, he said that it was not an economic
but a political one.
"We are saying we have got a Rs 80,000-crore package, now we will
do everything. This is not an issue of development. It is a political issue
which has to be resolved. If it was only about money, then the country has
already spent billions on this state, but the issue still lingers," he
said.
Meanwhile, in an apparent attack on PDP, he charged that "they
(PDP) claim Abdullah used to say that we will drop bombs; ask them, when our
houses were being blown, when our hospitals and schools were being blown, when
our people were being fired upon because they were the ones who were carrying
Tricolour, what was their fault.
"They were killed inside their houses. What should have Farooq
Abdullah said, to keep quiet."
Without taking any names, he further said that "man was being made
an enemy of another man and now they are ruling and saying such things... they
don't have a conscience. God knows what attraction they have with each
other."
Turning to Pakistan, he stressed that he was proud to be an Indian and
an Indian Muslim.
"I want friendship but I don't want to be their slave. I am for
sure a Muslim, but I am not a Chinese, Pakistani or an English Muslim; I am an
Indian Muslim, I am born an India, live as an Indian and will die as an
Indian," he said.
"Today Farooq Abdullah is sitting amongst you, he might not be
there tomorrow. Tomorrow, some terrorists will kill me but I am not afraid. I
am only afraid of Allah," he added.
He said that the need of the hour was to strengthen the unity amongst
the different religions in the country.
"We have to strengthen the bond between Hindu, Muslims, Sikhs and
other religions and our survival is not possible without the survival of
India," he said.
India," he said.
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