Srinagar: National Conference president and Member Parliament, Farooq Abdullah on Monday said that Article 370 was the last defence line of Jammu and Kashmir as it “protected it from every kind of exploitation,” even as he demanded that Centre should restore it for the “sake of the people.”
He said that the Center must give statehood back to Jammu and Kashmir and revoke their decision that was taken on August 05, 2019.
“There are many states in India where outsiders are not permitted to purchase immovable property, but they had problems with this law only in Kashmir so they abrogated it,” GK Web TV quoted Abdullah as saying in a chat with it.
Abdullah also hit out at Home Minister Amit Shah over his claims regarding development in Jammu and Kashmir post abrogation of Article 370, saying the situation on ground is different from “their claims”.
“Kashmir before the abrogation of Article-370 was in the highest phase of development. But now it’s getting backwards in every aspect,” said Abdullah, adding, “If they want to degrade the economic and social conditions of Kashmir, they can go ahead.”
Farooq said that the current government is good at making the announcements only as it lacks action.
“They only speak about distributing money among common people but haven’t distributed it to anyone till now,” he said.
Speaking about the ongoing farmer’s protest, Abdullah said that the Center should open the gates for agitating farmers and resolve their issues through talks.
“Farmer in India does not only feed the people of his country but also the people in other countries as well. Their matter should be solved at the earliest,” he said.
Taking a dig at the claims of industrial development by the current government, Abdullah said that they should first think and try to revive the age-old industries of Kashmir which are in dire need of help.
“There are so many industries which have been neglected and are on decline, the government should first focus on their revival and then talk about new developments,” he said.
