Farooq lambasts Centre, BJP for subverting effort to resolve issue

KT NEWS SERVICE MENDHAR, Apr 6: Lambasting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and successive regimes at the Center for subverting efforts to resolve Kashmir tangle, erstwhile chief minister and National Conference (NC) chief patron Dr Farooq Abdullah today said the process of softening 'estranged' relations with Pakistan was initiated way back in 1964 by late Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah.

Addressing a public meeting as a part of electioneering for party candidate SS Salathia here today, Dr Farooq recalled that his father at the behest of late Jawahar Lal Nehru initiated measures to soften relations with Pakistan, which resulted in a meeting between Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah and the then Field Marshall Ayub Khan.

He said in that meeting between his father and Ayub, it was decided that solution of Kashmir imbroglio should be acceptable to people of Jammu and Kashmir and it should also protect interests of Muslims in India and Hindus in Pakistan besides making it a win-win situation for parties to the dispute.

He rued that it was because of the saffron brigade and the rulers in Delhi that all the efforts to resolve the issue were subverted and it was after four decades that efforts were started afresh to resolve the dispute based on Sheikh-Ayub agreement of 1964.

While taking a dig at PDP and its allies, the former chief minister said those who proclaim to be the champions of peace today, once made all efforts to sabotage peace moves of his late father and also termed him as a traitor.

However, he hoped that this time around none will be allowed to play the spoilsport to sabotage the renewed peace process and it will be taken to its logical end.

Ridiculing PDP-led coalition government for its alleged failure on all the fronts, Dr Farooq said, "people of the state are disillusioned, unemployment has increased manifold, developmental works have come to a grinding halt", adding "economy of the state is crippled badly and HR violations have touched an all time high".

Farooq was accompanied by SS Salathia, Talib Hussain, M Jan, Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari, Javed Ahmed Rana, Bashir Ahmed Naaz and other senior NC leaders.

Meanwhile, one day delegate session of party leaders of Kishtwar constituency was held today at Kishtwar under the chairmanship of MLA Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo in which 600 delegates participated.

In the day-long deliberations delegates appreciated the decision of the party high command to field Khalid Najib Suharwardhy for 5-Udhampur parliamentary constituency and appealed the workers to work dedicatedly for ensuring his victory.

However, the delegates complained that Congress candidate and health and medical education minister Lal Singh, who is abusing his official position for the purpose of electioneering has created a reign of terror among NC workers on the one pretext or the other.

Delegates asked Kichloo to inform Election Commission of India (ECI) in this regard.

Besides Kichloo others who addressed the session were Qazi Jalal-ud-Din, Shabir Kamal, Tariq Hussain Keen and others.