Chairman of Peoples Conference, Sajad Gani Lone, on Friday said that hat he was not surprised by what he called Dr Farooq Abdullah’s “utterly disdainful hypocrisy” but pained at the “audaciousness of his utterances.”
Lone slammed National Conference president, Dr FarooqAbdullah, for exhorting the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief, YasinMalik, to sacrifice his life.
It may be recalled that Dr Farooq while addressing anelection rally at Devsar in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Thursday, hadsaid: “Yasin Malik despite being severely ill is languishing in jail these daysbecause he is advocating a dialogue with India but is not willing to sell selfrespect of Kashmiris. He has preferred death over surrender. I congratulate himfor that.”
Lone, while reacting to Dr Farooq’s assertion in a statement here, said, “Do you really have the nerve to be talking about Yasin Malik? Can you jog your memory a bit and recall that did you not as Chief Minister in 1987 chase a young rebellious Yasin Malik from being a rebel within the political system to picking up arms? Was it not you as Chief Minister who imprisoned him before and after 1987 elections? Was it not you as Chief Minister who ordered his third-degree torture and tortured him so badly that his heart ailment worsened? Was it not you as Chief Minister who put a bounty of a few lakhs on his head? Have you forgotten all that? And 32 years later you are all praise for Yasin Malik and congratulating him for going on a hunger strike and his readiness to sacrifice his life.
If you are so much in love with what Yasin Malik is doing, why don’t you suggest the same to your son Omar Abdullah? Why doesn’t he go on a hunger strike and render a sacrifice as you suggest for Yasin Malik? Or are sacrifices only meant for other people’s sons?.”
Sajad alleged that Farooq Abdullah is singularly responsible for forcing gun on to the peace loving Kashmiri people. “Let me remind you that Yasin Malik was a part of the 1987 elections as a young member of the MUF. He was imprisoned after the rigging of 1987 elections and badly tortured. Had people like him been allowed to flourish, he may have been today where your son Omar Abdullah is.
While he spent decades in jails, you and your son have prospered. He was no doubt rebellious even as a young college going student but had not lost faith in the ballot. It was your government which rigged the elections so blatantly that Yasin and scores of others lost faith in the ballot and embraced the gun.
That was the start and till date approximately one lakh Kashmiris have lost their lives, and you and your ilk continue to flourish. What a shame. Delhi should also take note that as long as they go on treating the symptoms the disease will persist and never go away”, he asserted.
Sajad said, “I dare Delhi that If you really want a changein Kashmir, if you really have what it takes to bring about a change, go afterthese white-collar people like Farooq Abdullah. It is he who is singularlyresponsible for forcing gun on to the peace loving Kashmiri people. The dayDelhi starts to punish the traditional elite for their sins there will be avisible change in Kashmir,” he added.