Centre Must Fulfil Promises To CJP, Otherwise The Campaign Could Grow: Farooq Abdullah

Srinagar, Jul 29: National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said the government must keep its promises to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), otherwise the campaign could grow.

“If they (government) do not fulfil the promises they have made, and (revoke) FIRs, (if they do not) stop harassing those who provided food and water there, who took care of them (protestors), they (government) started persecuting them and their families, then this campaign will grow even more and bring a change,” he said.

To a question about a policeman firing AK47 rounds on protestors in Bihar, the NC chief said, “Everyone knows this, and you must have heard what the president of All India Student Association (Neha) has said. This will not stop. Children have stood up against it… they will take it forward.”

“I do not want to say anything about it,” he said.

While opposing police action against student protesters in Delhi, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief appeared to defend the use of pellet guns in the valley in the past, saying that it was different in Kashmir as the security forces were fighting militancy.

Mehbooba clarified on Tuesday, saying she meant to say that the security forces get an excuse to use force against Kashmiris as there is militancy.

“I meant to say the words ‘bahana banta hai’ (they get an excuse), but I couldn’t say ‘bahana‘ as I was talking to a lot of people,” she added.

When asked about the PDP chief announcing protests on August 5 (the anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370), Abdullah said: “Please, it is her job; she can do what she likes”.

To another question about Mehbooba alleging that the NC had signed on the death warrants of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged inside the Tihar Jail on February 9, 2013, and JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat, who was hanged on February 11, 1984, Abdullah said, “Let her say whatever she wants”.

“I will not say anything about Mehbooba. Let her say whatever she wants,” he said.

He pointed to a maxim in his school, “they say what they say, let them say what they say, for they say what they say”, to not respond to what the PDP chief said.

Asked about the reported remarks of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha that 90 per cent of the 5,000 hotels built in the last six years in Kashmir were “illegal”, Abdullah said he should be grateful that the hotels were built to accommodate the tourists visiting the valley.

“Be grateful that they were built. Tourists come here. Where will they stay? I have also seen that time when they used to sleep in taxis, they used to sleep in cars. They used to sleep on the road. There was no space. Thank God people stood on their own feet, and they did not look for government jobs,” he added.

The NC chief also called for stringent action against those peddling drugs in the valley.