National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has lashed out at the Narendra Modi government for its hesitation in engaging in peace talks with neighbouring Pakistan.
Interacting with reporters on Tuesday, December 26, he said that if the reluctance continues, Kashmir might be in a similar situation as is unfolding in Palestine.
Palestine has been bombarded constantly by the Israel armed forces since October 7 after Hamas attacked Israel. Over 20,000 people, mostly women and children, have been reported killed since the beginning of the fresh conflict.
Recalling former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s statement on peace talks with Pakistan, Farooq said, “Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said that we can change our friends but not our neighbours. If we remain friendly with our neighbours, both will progress. PM Modi also said that war is not an option now and the matters should be resolved through dialogue. Where is the dialogue? Nawaz Sharif is about to become the PM (of Pakistan) & they are saying that we are ready to talk (with India), but what is the reason why we are not ready to talk? If we do not find a solution through dialogue, we will meet the same fate as Gaza and Palestine, which are being bombed by Israel…”
In January this year, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his desire for “serious and sincere talks” with PM Modi, saying ‘war is not an option.’
However, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, in August, dismissed any talks explaining it was impossible if terrorism was being normalised. “We can’t allow terrorism to be normalised; we can not allow that to become the basis for getting us into discussions with Pakistan. To me it is a fairly common sense proposition,” he had said.
‘Terrorism has not ended, it is increasing’
The former chief minister trashed the BJP claims about the end of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. “Four years ago, the Home Minister made a speech in Chennai where he said Article 370 was responsible for terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. Now terrorism will finish in JK and development is being done.
“Four years later, he made a speech in the Parliament and said he had not said anything like that. This is how much they are lying. Terrorism has not ended, it is increasing. Trained (terrorist) people are coming in and they are not caught. Innocent people are being targeted,” he said.
‘Changing army officers is no solution’
Speaking on the recent deaths of three civilians in Poonch district, the National Conference president said that shunting out army officers is not a solution and called for an investigation to find out why innocent people were “tortured” to death.
“Peaceful citizens, eight of them, were taken away and three were beaten so mercilessly and chilli powder rubbed into their wounds. Three of them could not bear the torture and succumbed. Five others are in the hospital. The brother of one of the victims is in the BSF and has been serving for the past 24 years now he says that he has got brother’s death in return to his services to the nation,” Abdullah told reporters here.
Three civilians were found dead after they were picked up by the Army for questioning following a deadly terrorist ambush on two Army vehicles in Poonch last Thursday.
He added, “The Army Chief has taken the Northern Commander also from here to the academy in Dehradun but it will not resolve the problem. There should be an investigation into why this happened?”
If innocent people who have nothing to do with terrorism are killed “which India are we living in”, he asked. “Is this Mahatma Gandhi’s India where we can live in peace? The hatred has spread so much that Hindus and Muslims think they are enemies of each other.”
(With inputs from PTI)
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