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
13:27you
13:29you
13:31you
13:33you
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