No way for govt but to hold talks with Pakistan for lasting peace in Jammu and Kashmir: Farooq Abdullah

Asked if he still insisted on talks with Pakistan, Abdullah replied, “You have to talk. There is no way out (to end militancy).”

Abdullah was speaking with the media after a function at the National Conference headquarters here.

He said, “You can talk to China…. What do you say about China, who is coming (and) occupying our territory? They make houses in our territory…. Did the government allow discussion on this in Parliament?”

Addressing migrant Kashmiri Pandits, he said, without naming Pakistan, that “they thought Kashmir will be theirs” through ethnic cleansing. But, he added, “I want to reiterate from this stage that even if the sky and earth join hands, Jammu and Kashmir will never fall in their hands.”

Referring to numerous problems faced by Kashmiri Pandits while living in exile from the Valley, and also appreciating the people of Jammu for opening their doors for the Pandits, the Lok Sbaha MP said they have been used as vote banks. Without taking names, he said many promises were made to the Kahmiri Pandits but not a single one was fulfilled.

Pointing out that no Hindu person got killed during the Partition due to the intervention of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, he said, “Our sympathisers started creating problems for us after 1947, thinking that they will get your vote. Pardon me, but this involved people from (both) your and our sides, who did all they could do for their chairs and started creating a wedge between Kashmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims…. They have created so much hatred (between people from the two communities) for each other that I do not want to talk much about it.”

He said, “Muslims did not make you (Kashmiri Pandits) leave, but those vested interests who do not understand dharma, and who will never understand it (made them leave). They involve both your own and our people.”

Referring to his government’s initiative to make Kashmiri Pandits return home, he said the plan had to be shelved following their killings. “I cannot take their blood on my hands…time will come when you will return home with dignity,” he said.

He asked both Hindus and Muslims to remove hate for the other from their heart: “Till that (hate) does not go, we cannot live in peace, and our enemy will keep exploiting that.”