New Delhi, September 24, 2020 (PPI-OT): Former puppet chief minister of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference President, Farooq Abdullah, has said that at this moment the Kashmiri people do not feel and do not want to be Indians.
Farooq Abdullah told veteran Indian TV anchor Karan Thapar, in an interview for The Wire online that the Kashmiris, including those that once had faith in their destiny with India, would today prefer to be ruled by China than New Delhi. “Today Kashmiris do not feel Indian and do not want to be Indian. They are slaves. They would rather have the Chinese rule them.”
The NC President said that every Kashmiri, including those that had opposed joining Pakistan were looking at the India-China border standoff with interest. He maintained that China has been incensed by India’s annexation of Jammu and Kashmir, particularly with the changes made in the status of Ladakh.
The former CM of IIOJK maintained that it is complete rubbish for the BJP to claim that the people of Kashmir have accepted the August 2019 changes just because there have been no protests. He said if the Indian soldiers on every street and Section 144 are lifted, people will come out in their tens of lakhs.
Farooq Abdullah stated that the new domicile law was intended to flood the Valley with Hindus and create a Hindu majority. He said this has further embittered the Kashmiri people. “Every Kashmiri believes the new domicile laws are intended to create a Hindu majority. The gap between Kashmiris and the rest of the country is wider than ever before and growing,” Farooq Abdullah said.
Asked by The Wire how Kashmiris view the Indian government and, in particular, Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, the NC Chief said that they were deeply disillusioned. He said that the Kashmiris had no trust in the Indian government. The trust that once bound Kashmir to the rest of India has completely snapped, he added.
The former CM revealed details of his meeting with the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, roughly 72 hours before August 05, 2019 when the special status of IIOJK was revoked. He had met Modi seeking assurances about the continuation of Articles 370 and 35A. He had asked Modi why there were so many troops in the Valley and whether this was because of any perceived military threat.
Farooq Abdullah maintained that Narendra Modi gave him the impression that the massive increase in troops was for security purposes. He said the prime minister did not say a word about Articles 370 and 35A. Consequently, he came out of the meeting believing the two Articles were not in danger. When asked he agreed that the prime minister had misled and deceived him.
The NC President told The Wire that in August 2019, when the constitutional changes in the status of Kashmir were suddenly announced, the National Conference and all other pro-India political parties stood badly discredited in Kashmiris’ eyes. Speaking of himself, Farooq Abdullah said that he seemed to have fallen between two stools. The Indian government viewed him as a traitor and arrested him. Kashmiris, on the other hand, saw him as a servant of India and said things like ‘serves Abdullah right’ and chided him and taunted him for having said Bharat Mata Ki Jai. This left him deeply shaken and upset.
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