In just 19 days, National Conference president and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah has gone from praising Pakistan to blaming it. On October 24, at a rally in Baramulla, he said Pakistan was “protecting” Kashmir. On Thursday, in the shadow of two back-to-back terror attacks in Kulgam and Kishtwar, he urged Islamabad to stop sending terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir. For a leader who has often been accused of changing his position as the political wind shifts, the turnaround has revived an old question about his consistency.
Reacting to the attacks, Abdullah said the incidents should serve as an eye-opener for those who claim that normalcy has returned to the Union Territory after the abrogation of Article 370. “Those who keep parroting from Delhi that terrorism has ended in Jammu and Kashmir must wake up to the reality that terrorism is still there. We must find ways to eradicate this menace,” he said, strongly condemning both incidents.
Pointing to the bodies of two Special Police Officers (SPOs) recovered this morning from the Dechhan area of Kishtwar, he warned: “Today it is Kishtwar, tomorrow it may be some other place. Terrorism has not ended in Jammu and Kashmir.”
Abdullah, however, insisted there was no reason to fear terrorism. “Pakistan’s rulers are living in a fool’s paradise if they think they can snatch Kashmir through terrorism,” he said. “Kashmir was an integral part of India, is an integral part of India and will remain an integral part of the Indian Union. I do not know why Pakistan keeps raising the Kashmir issue on international platforms.”
The veteran politician advised Pakistan’s rulers to stop sending terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir, abandon confrontation and open a dialogue with India. “Dialogue is the one and only means to solve all problems,” he said, pointing to the Iran-US war and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. “What have these countries achieved from these wars? Except deaths and destruction, nothing. Now they have realised the need for dialogue.”
It is a sharp contrast to his words at Baramulla on October 24, which set off a political storm. Speaking at the rally, Abdullah had said that Pakistan was protecting Kashmir, that Kashmiris could expect little from the Centre and that they should find the courage to confront Delhi. He had credited Pakistan with keeping the Kashmir issue alive on international platforms. “Our neighbour is constantly after them. He goes everywhere saying that the Kashmir issue has not been resolved. He is protecting us; otherwise, their intentions are not good,” he had said.
Now, seeking to contain the fallout, Abdullah claims his remarks were misquoted and that only half of them went viral. “I highlighted the atrocities committed by Pakistani raiders on innocent Kashmiris in 1947,” he said. “I reminded the people of Baramulla how the raiders looted and assaulted people. A Christian doctor couple running a hospital in Baramulla were brutally killed, and nuns at that hospital were raped.”
Abdullah, whose party is part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, also declined to comment on Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s newly released book, Belonging: A Journey of Love. “The book was released a couple of days ago. I have not read it, so I will not comment,” he said.
