Srinagar, Apr 09: People’s Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone Tuesday claimed that National Conference leader Omar Abdullah had met BJP president Amit Shah after the 2014 Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir with an aim to form government in the state and become chief minister himself.
“Omar Abdullah met BJP president and he was accompanied by two other persons. They were with him (Shah) for two-and-a-half hours. He asked for support for government formation saying I will be chief minister for three years and for three years, there will be a BJP chief minister. However, the deal was rejected by the top BJP leadership,” Lone claimed while addressing a massive election rally at his hometown Handwara in north Kashmir Kupwara district today.
He was answering the question that he had put to Omar Abdullah in a rally at Kralapora yesterday.
Lone said that Omar Abdullah, “who has been beating everyone with the BJP stick, is in fact a BJP reject. Let him rebut what we are saying.
“Omar has been accusing every political opponent of being close to the BJP. May I ask Omar that if he is so ideologically opposed to the BJP, then why did he meet their top leadership for more than two-and-a-half hours? Why did he beg for their support to become the chief minister? He was so desperate for their support that he was even willing to accept a Jammu’s CM for three years. However, his offer was rejected by the BJP leadership after which he has been beating everyone with the BJP stick. Had the BJP accepted his offer, he would have whole-heartedly accepted the BJP and their demand for chief minister from Jammu,” Lone said.
Referring to what he termed as “a bloody timeline for the Kashmiri people”, Lone started off with the United Nations (UN) “where Sheikh Sahib (Shiekh Mohammad Abdullah) had gone in his capacity as the Chief Executive of the Maharaja and to which Pakistan had objected.
“They termed him as an employee of the Maharaja. It is during that regime that the massacre of the Muslims took place in Jammu,” Lone said.
“In 1975, the Sheikh bartered away the post of prime minister and took oath as chief minister.
“In 1987, Farooq Abdullah rigged the polls and pushed Kashmir into a state of violence which shows no sign of abating and devours Kashmiri on a daily basis.
“The Kashmiris rose in revolt in 1989 and took up the gun. As the Kashmiris rose in revolt, thousands were killed, and mainstream political activity came to a halt,” he added.
Lone said that no Kashmiri party was willing to contest polls until the Indian state offered some political deal to the Kashmiris but Farooq Abdullah “sabotaged” any such possibility.
“Narasimha Rao as prime minister in trying to end the conflict made a speech prior to 1996 elections saying ‘sky is the limit’ in terms of political concessions that the Indian state could offer to the Kashmiri people. It was a clear hint at offering internal autonomy,” Lone said.
“Starved of power, Farooq Abdullah yet again moved in and sabotaged any such possibility. He cut a deal agreeing to contest in return for ‘government on a platter’. In what was more of a selection than election the NC was again handed over power through a theatrical election bereft of electors. He literally took on the role of a military administrator and some of the cruelest days that the Kashmiris endured were during his tenure in 1996-2002,” Lone alleged.
He said that Farooq Abdullah “scuttled” talks between the Government of India (GoI) and the Hizbul Mujhaideen in 2001.
“In 2001 Hizbul Mujhaideen announced a ceasefire. The GoI responded positively and a ceasefire was brought into effect. Farooq Sahib was unambiguously opposed to it and favoured continued military action, but the GoI initiated dialogue with the militants of HM.
“The first round was supposed to be held in Srinagar, away from the glare of the press. The CM office under Farooq Abdullah tipped the press and the unsuspecting militants arrived at the venue to find hundreds of press-men. That was the end of dialogue process and subsequently all those militants were killed,” Lone told the gathering.
He said “there is not a single atrocity in Kashmir which does not bear the sign and seal of the NC. The two hangings (OF Mohammadf Maqbool Bhat, and Mohammad Afzal Guru), the PSA, POTA all executed during their regimes.”
On Omar Abdullah frequently referring to some person and his “elder brother”, Lone said that he will try and figure who Omar is referring to as his elder brother.
In an apparent reference to Sachin Pilot, he said that Omar Abdullah should make efforts to ensure safety of Kashmiris in Rajasthan where his close relative is deputy chief minister. “It might be a good idea to utilize their influence to prevent frequent attacks on Kashmiris in Rajasthan,” he said
On AFSPA, Sajad Lone said that “military measures have outlived their utility, if any, in Kashmir. Non-military measures are overdue. And non-military measures would mean full reversal of the erosion to state’s special status.”
He said that BJP needs to understand that AFSPA is a part of the problem and cannot become a part of the solution. “Arrogance and belligerence won’t take the BJP too far in Kashmir,” he added.
