SURANKOTE: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference President, Dr Farooq Abdullah on Friday asked PDP-BJP Coalition to stop reign of repression and coercion unleashed against entire population in the Valley, lest the situation takes such an ugly turn that will be beyond control of the governments at Srinagar and in New Delhi to handle.
“Enough is enough”, Dr Abdullah said while referring to killings and large scale arrests being made on daily basis in mistaken belief of quelling the ongoing unrest, which he described as people’s anger against betrayal of the PDP by joining hands with the BJP.
Dr Farooq Abdullah was addressing workers at Surankote this afternoon on the conclusion of his four-day visit to border districts of Poonch and Rajouri. He said normalcy cannot be restored by subjecting people to harassment and intimidation or by rehabilitating jails with thousands of innocents. “Peace shall remain a distant dream unless New Delhi addresses the root cause by assuaging political aspirations of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh”, he said while reminding the promises made with people of the state in 1947. He referred to the statement of former Sadr-e-Riyasat Dr Karan Singh in Parliament recently on the Instrument of Accession and said the younger generation has at least come to know the terms of accession and circumstances that led to its inking by Maharaja Hari Singh.
The NC chief cautioned the central leadership against crucial delay in reaching out to the people and making sincere efforts in resolving political problem of Kashmir, saying the grim situation in the Valley calls for winning over hearts and minds. “People’s trust and confidence cannot be won by pellet guns or putting youth behind bars”, he said, wondering that instead of showing semblances of civility and compassion, the government is indulging in provocations. “How can they expect students to appear for examinations with many of them being in jails. He said the situation in the Valley is worse, as people are suffering for want of basics, medicare being the worst-hit.
Farooq said that continued unrest has unnerved the ruling coalition, which in a bid to divert the attention from current alarming situation is brazenly dividing people on the basis of region and religion. He urged the people to guard against polarising people in the name of region and religion while reminding them of the sacrifices offered by National Conference to maintain amity and tranquillity even in most turbulent situations.
General Secretary, Ali Mohammed Sagar, Additional General Secretary Dr Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, Provincial President Jammu, Devender Rana, State Vice President and former minister, Mushtaq Ahmed Shah Bukhari and MLA Javed Rana were present on the occasion.