Farooq Abdullah says time to restore Jammu and Kashmir's statehood

India Today

In an exclusive interview with India Today, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah said it was time to restore Jammu and Kashmir's statehood.

Transcript

00:00and joining me now to give an assessment of this big debate that's taken place in

00:11parliament both houses on operation sindoor is the grand old the grand young man of kashmir

00:18politics former chief minister and president of the jammu and kashmir national conference

00:24dr faruk abdullah dr abdullah it's been a long debate in parliament centered in a way on india's

00:33actions against pakistan but that cannot be discussed without looking at the situation in

00:39kashmir where that horrific attack in pehelgham took place so at the end of this long debate

00:45how do you assess it from your vantage point there in srinagar have most of the questions been

00:52answered by this debate

00:54radheep thank you for putting me on your program the debate was long opposition did well they put

01:10their questions very clearly unfortunately the replies were not that clear and many replies were not given

01:18no any specific when you say many replies were not given many answers were not clear let's be

01:26specific what is it specifically that faruk abdullah was expecting out of this debate

01:30that didn't happen let me tell you you let me tell you one they did not fix the responsibility

01:38on who failed the people who was responsible for that happened there and what action was taken against

01:50those people who were responsible for that what happened in palga the lg controls entire security here

01:59was he questioned was he questioned was he taken to task were the other authorities that are here

02:06taken to task how did this happen that is one factor second they took the name of the people

02:16who were killed by those terrorists 25 and one kashmiri who was a helper there

02:24because he stood up and said this is wrong he paid with his life but they did not take the name

02:33of 18 people that paid the price of sindhur action sindhur 18 who died from punch from rajori from

02:46uh thunam this uh this uh uh tithwal area of our border uri no name was no no mention was made about them

02:57but his pain does you know but the fact is uh dr abdullah the government says that it has given a

03:06a strong response to pakistan deterred pakistan in a way that was the government's theme the opposition's

03:13theme was the security lapses that led to palga the government said we've given a tough response

03:19uh to pakistan and drawn a red line we will not uh fall for pakistan's nuclear blackmail

03:26does all of this to you actually mean that we have moved forward or do you still fear that terror attacks

03:34in the valley will continue look if you go back they removed article 370 saying that that article is

03:47responsible for terrorism in the state six years have passed since the article was removed

03:56have they removed terrorism is it wiped out as the home minister one week before that incident took

04:06place had said that he has uprooted them from the roots and there'll be no more terrorism is that

04:13correct is that what has happened no so am i to understand that you're holding the home minister and

04:21the lg squarely responsible for palga and saying they didn't take responsibility for it and thereby

04:28you're saying the government of omar abdullah has nothing to do with what happened in palga that

04:34they if there is responsibility to be fixed it has to be fixed at the door of the lg

04:39and the home minister is that what you're saying and that didn't happen in parliament

04:42i think i think i think the whole nation knows umar abdullah does not control security or anything

04:51like this there's absolutely nothing to do even he's not consulted when meetings are held of the unified

05:01command or when the home minister comes here and talks of the security situation the elected chief

05:10minister is not called what do you say about it but but it's interesting the elected and the promise

05:16to the state that the minute you have the election yes that you will be getting given the statehood

05:22where is that statehood where is it they promised it in the in the supreme court where is it but but

05:30but dr abdullah how long do you but dr abdullah you will you will recall dr abdullah that soon after

05:36pehel gum when omar abdullah addressed the jammu and kashmir assembly he said this was not the right

05:40time to raise the issue of uh of statehood because the country was grieving with the victims now we are

05:47three months out do you believe that this issue should have been addressed in that parliament debate would

05:53you have liked to see the parliament debate being the appropriate fora for the government to announce

05:58statehood for kashmir jammu and kashmir it was the best time i think the best time was when that thing

06:09happened and and the whole kashmiri people for the first time in 35 years rose against it and told

06:18our neighbor in one single voice that this is not acceptable to us you cannot take us for granted

06:25and you cannot kill innocent people in our state that was very clear they should have at that time

06:32honored the people and returned the statehood do you therefore believe that the way forward

06:39is to start with statehood is that what you are saying now that this is the appropriate time to give

06:46jammu and kashmir statehood because there will be those who will say given the fragile security situation

06:52at the moment this is we still need to see whether the situation is fully under control

07:02radeep what are you talking about what's happening in chattisgarh what is happening in other states

07:11you don't see terrorism there there are still states why are we suffering

07:16why are we not part of this indian union

07:25it's the only first time in my life since i have been part when india became free

07:33that states first state in this in the entire up to this time jammu and kashmir was converted into ut

07:40and divided i have known of only uts becoming states not the other way around but this is

07:49injustice to the people of jammu and kashmir you know dr abdullah the government in its response

07:56in the home minister in particular has also pointed out that this government has avenged

08:01the terrorists responsible for it including the mastermind have been killed

08:05they've also targeted the terror bases in pakistan they've uh killed them uh in uh in dachigan near

08:12near srinagar to that extent will you at least give the government some credit

08:17that they have taken a strong step towards terrorism in a manner that previous governments perhaps did not

08:22what every government has taken strong steps against terrorism always no government of india has ever

08:37bowed down before terrorists let's make that clear

08:43but but doctor never bored before terrorists and we will never boo before terrorists but the but it then

08:50comes back to it that after this debate in parliament the fiery nature of it where is that all party

08:57consensus on the way forward how do we go move forward is the big question that i asked part of the

09:03problem that i saw as an analyst on the debate was there was too much of talk of the past what happened

09:08in 2008 2006 2003 even stretching back to jawalla nehru question is how do we move forward dr abdullah

09:15as someone who's seen politics in the valley for half a century you've seen the worst of terrorism

09:21or militancy in the valley how do you move forward

09:27i think by i look forward by trusting the people you must trust people this is what i told prime minister

09:34when we met him while there was covid that we have to start trusting and the lack of trust must go

09:42we are part of nation as as maharashtra is as rajasthan is as tamil nadu is as bengal is as all these states

09:52are it's a union of states which is called india diverse and yet united can can cross-border terror and

10:05statehood go together as long as there is cross-border terror as long as pakistan continues to pump in

10:11terrorists as long as there may be some locals some locals who may be supporting the terrorists can

10:16statehood go together with that in your view you mentioned other states but other states do not

10:22suffer in the way that jammu and kashmir does from cross-border terror

10:29well give us the chance don't don't just sit on it we have fought them before given our lives

10:37and we'll fight them again we are not part of pakistan we are part of india a democratic india

10:46and india for all of us whatever your religion whatever your language whatever your province or

10:52state you are part of the nation and trust us so is that your message to prime minister modi and home

11:01minister shah after this long debate would that be your message start trusting the people of jammu and

11:07kashmir and restore statehood at the earliest if you want to really restore true normalcy after

11:14palgam is that your message to them

11:19i would say the message to the whole india not only to the prime minister and the home minister

11:27but to every indian we have to live together and let's trust each other the trust factor

11:36is important and that must be created and not waited for

11:44okay i'm going to leave it there dr abdullah because you've been pretty clear in where you stand

11:49on this issue i hope those in power are listening to you dr faruk abdullah you're calling for the

11:55restoration of statehood at the earliest as a first step in a way towards moving towards a post

12:03pahel gum and i just radeep yes

12:08radeep yes i would also like to send message to our neighbor

12:14stop what you are doing it is not going to create conducive atmosphere between india and pakistan

12:24if you want that conducive atmosphere to be give up this tragedies of terrorism if you do not give them

12:36the situation will be worse and suffering will be worse of the people

12:41don't play with it okay let me leave it okay stop let me leave it there you've sent a strong message to

12:52islamabad you've reached out to new delhi dr faruk abdullah for joining me there from srinagar thank you very much

13:03god bless you and may your program continue to help us out

13:11aaruk abdullah there speaking loud and clear statehood for jammu and kashmir is necessary as a

13:18a precondition for greater normalcy

13:27you

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