J&K will never be part of Pak: Farooq : The Tribune India

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J&K will never be part of Pak: Farooq

Jammu: In the backof cancellation of NSA-level talks between India and Pakistan, National Conference president and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah today said J&K would never be a part of Pakistan as the neighbouring country “cannot conquer” India.

J&K will never be part of Pak: Farooq

NC president and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah at a function in Jammu on Sunday. Tribune Photo



Tribune News Service 

Jammu, August 30

In the backdrop of cancellation of NSA-level talks between India and Pakistan, National Conference president and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah today said J&K would never be a part of Pakistan as the neighbouring country “cannot conquer” India.

“They (Pakistan) cannot win from us. Whether they drop 10 or 20 bombs, Jammu and Kashmir will never be the part of Pakistan. But we will have to find a way for friendship between the two countries and a day will come when Pakistan will itself look for a way out to have friendly relations with India,” Farooq said while addressing a gathering during a function to pay homage to noted journalist Balraj Puri on his first death anniversary.

On the sidelines of the function while responding to a media query about the recently released religious census and the remarks of the RSS about the threat of ‘Islamisation of Bharat’ due to the increasing Muslim population, Farooq said there was “no threat to Bharat” with the growth of the Muslim community.

“I don’t know about their (RSS) statement but I can tell you one thing that India belongs to all of faiths —- whether we are Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs or Christians. Whoever is an Indian, the country belongs to him,” he said, adding that there was no such thing that the Muslim population had grown and they posed a danger. “There is no such danger. A Muslim is as Indian as anybody else is,” he said. 

In response to a query on ‘One Rank, One Pension’ (OROP), the National Conference president supported the demand of the ex-servicemen, saying the Central government should fulfil the “promise” made to the veterans. “That (OROP) has been agreed on in Parliament when the other government was there. The OROP should be given. That is the promise that the earlier government has made. I think this government should fulfil this promise made to them (ex-serviceman),” he said.

Earlier, Farooq in his address took a dig at the successive governments at the Centre for “dividing” the people on religious and caste lines in Jammu and Kashmir.

“I still remember that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had visited Rajouri town in 1983 and announced Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for Gujjars in Rajouri. Her decision followed the grant of ST status to the people of Ladakh — whether they were Muslims or Buddhists — due to the extreme backwardness in the region. During her speech in Rajouri, she declared that if my (Farooq) government wrote to her about granting ST status to the people of Rajouri on the pattern of Ladakh, she would consider it and the people would be given ST status. I called the Cabinet meeting around 11 pm and wrote to Government of India the very next day… but nothing has happened to date thereafter but has created a wedge between Gujjars and Paharis,” he said. 

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