ABHISHEK BADYAL
SAMBA : National Conference Pres- ident Farooq Abdullah’s huge public meeting in Samba. The meeting was organised by Mohinder Singh Senior leader National Conference.
The former chief minis- ter advocated for restora- tion of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and said the time is not far when
Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh will be a single entity once again.
In 2019, the Centre had abrogated Article 370, which granted special statuswhich granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated it into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. ”The National Conference (NC) never sided with Pakistan…when tribal raiders were at our doors and Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah came rushing to my father Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah to seek his support, he decided to go with India,” Abdullah said. ”Sometimes youngsters tell me that my father had done wrong but I make it clear to them that oppression will end. We should be thankful that we did not go to Pakistan, where a for- mer prime minister (Imran Khan) was fired upon in the recent past, the military is dictating terms and people have no power,” he said addressing a function here.
Referring to the 2019 development, the NC chief said that ”we hope they will restore the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir without any further delay”. ”It (restoration of statehood) is imperative. It was unfortu- nate that our state was downgraded and divided. This time will also change. If you support us at the opportune time (at the time of elections), the time is not far when we will be together again as a single entity – Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh,” he said.
Later talking to reporters, Abdullah launched a veiled attack on separatist-turned-mainstream politicians and said they made every attempt earlier to weaken the NC after get- ting money from Pakistan. ”Don’t they (central government) fund those who were ear- lier sided with Pakistan. I do not want to name them. They were the same people who were getting money from Pakistan and distributing it here to weaken the NC,” Abdullah said.
Additional General Secratary Dr Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, Provincial President Jammu Adv. Rattan Lal Gupta, Youth National Conference Provincial President Ajaz Jan, Political Advisor to JKNC President Mushtaq Guroo, Babu Ram Pal, Thakur Yashu Vardhan Singh, Asrar Khan, Women’s Wing Provincial President SatwantKour Dogra, Abdul GaniTeli, Laxmi Dutta, Vijay Lochan, Mohinder Singh, DipinderKour and others were present on the occasion.