Jammu, Sept 4: National Conference chief and union minister Dr Farooq Abdullah Saturday said that he doesn’t recognise senior separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
“I do not recognise Geelani. Who is Geelani and what is his status?” Farooq told reporters here in response to a query about Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani daring him to address people at Lal Chowk in Srinagar.
The former J&K chief minister said that he doesn’t give any damn to such threats. “I have never accepted Geelani as a leader. Who is Geelani to challenge Farooq Abdullah?” a fuming Farooq said.
Maintaining that Kashmir’s accession with India is full and final, the former chief minister said that Kashmir is not going anywhere and will remain with India.
Taking on Geelani, Farooq said, “If he (Geelani) wants that Kashmir should go with Pakistan, I request him to go and live there. Kashmir will remain with India for ever”.
Admitting that police and security forces are not trained in handling  the stone pelting mobs , he said, “It is unfortunate that nearly 60 young men have died in clashes with the police and I feel that security personnel should be better trained to deal with such  situations”.
He felt a strong need to create a specialized police force which should be trained to deal with the people using non-lethal weapons.
“Police is not trained enough to deal with the situation in Kashmir resulting in the death of youth. But its unfortunate that those who died were misled by the propaganda and even don’t know what Azadi means”, Abdullah said.
On demands of plebiscite by some sections in the state, Abdullah said that plebiscite should be first held in Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK) as it is controlled by Pakistan.
National Conference patron also dismissed as baseless speculation that he would take over as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, saying incumbent Omar Abdullah has the backing of the entire country.
“It is totally wrong and baseless. I want to make it very clear that there is no such thing. Omar is the chief minister and he has the backing of the entire country”, he said.
On the presence of Chinese troops in Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK), Union Minister said that it is not an issue of concern as India is quite strong to deal with the situation.
Advocating stern action against any kind of terrorism, Farooq expressed hope that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will not make any mistake in handling the current hostage crisis in the state.
“We made a mistake by releasing five terrorists (sic) in Kashmir during V P Singh’s regime and later repeated it during the Kandahar episode. I hope Nitish Kumar will not make that mistake,” he said referring to the four policemen held hostage recently by Maoists demanding the release of their cadre in Bihar.
“India should appear strong, otherwise the terrorists would continue to dictate. Either you fight them and fight them hard, otherwise you will appear to be a soft state,” Farooq said.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 4 Sep 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 4 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 5 Sep 2010 00:00:00 IST