AUGUST 6, 2019
In this file photo dated Aug 1, 2019, National Conference President Farooq Abdullah, at the Parliament in New Delhi. (PTI)
NEW DELHI, INDIA – National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday said the government’s decision to bifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories felt like “your body was being carved”. Speaking to news channel NDTV, Abdullah asked if the government will “divide our hearts too.” In his first reaction to the development, the former Chief Minister broke down, saying he hopes the country stands by Kashmir.
“Yeh maine Hindustan nahin dekha. Maine kabhi yeh Hindustan nahin dekha. Yeh Hindustan hum sabka Hindustan hai, Hindu ho, Muslim ho, Sikh ho, isai ho, yeh sabka Hindustan tha. (I have never seen this India. This India is of all of us. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs) he said.
“We will not give in. Death is the wish of God. So why worry about it? What worries me is that what must be the ordinary man going through. Locked up, he may not even have medicines in his house, he may not even have food in his house. What is the use of the government saying we have rations for three months, we have sugar for three months, atta for three months, when a man cannot get to it, not have money to buy it. Is that worth it?” he told the news channel.
“As soon as the gate will open and our people will be out, we will fight, we will go to the court. We are not gun-runners, grenade-throwers, stone-throwers, we believe in peaceful resolutions,” he told news agency ANI.
In an emotional appeal to the country, Abdullah told NDTV “We have been with you, through thick and thin. I hope you stand with us through thick and thin, and pray for the return of democracy and secularism in the country.”
Calling Home Minister Amit Shah a “liar”, Abdullah said he was detained last night. “I was detained in my house… I feel sad that Home Minister can lie like this,” he said, describing how security personnel detained him in his house. “I told them the home minister says I’m not detained. Who are you to detain me?” he said.
In the Lok Sabha today, Shah had said Abdullah is neither under detention nor arrest and was at his home of his own will. He made these remarks when Supriya Sule (NCP) said Abdullah used to sit next to him in the House. She said he is not in House and his voice is not being heard.
When asked if he saw his son and NC leader Omar Abdullah, he said he last saw him before he was arrested Monday evening.
With mobile communication and Internet services suspended and public movement restricted, all of the Kashmir Valley in a state of lockdown from midnight Sunday, a day before Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced the decision to do away with Article 370 in Rajya Sabha. Last night, former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah were arrested along with People’s Conference leader Sajad Lone.
Courtesy/Source: Indian Express
