Jammu: National Conference President Farooq Abdullah Tuesday said that a volcano had been building up in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and expressed fear over what shape it would take when it erupts.
He said that the celebrations in Kashmir over Pakistan’s win against India in the T20 cricket world cup while Home Minister Amit Shah was visiting were meant to provoke the BJP, which had taken away J&K’s special status.
“They (those who celebrated the win) don’t have anything to do with them (Pakistanis)… It was done to provoke the BJP. They were children and young boys and this should serve as an eye-opener for the BJP,” Abdullah said at a public meeting in Surankote in Poonch district.
He said that the BJP claims a new phase had started and militancy finished but the situation was otherwise.
The three-time chief minister said Shah was the one who announced the state’s special status under Article 370 being revoked and also witnessed the celebrations after the Pakistan’s cricket win on Sunday.
“They (the BJP) took away Article 370 and Article 35-A from us and claim not a single bullet was fired. How could bullets have been fired when you have put a soldier outside the door of every household? A volcano is building up even as they think they have silenced (the people). This volcano will erupt one day and Allah knows what will be its shape and size. They have to return Article 370 to the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Abdullah also defended his advocacy for a dialogue between India and Pakistan and asked people to pray to Allah for good sense to prevail in both the countries and for a way out in the larger interest of peace and development in the subcontinent.
He said that the political parties in both countries are winning elections in the name of Kashmir.
“Pakistan says Kashmir is our jugular vein and we have been suffering for 75 years. India says this is our land and we will take back the land which is under the illegal occupation of Pakistan. Nobody has asked the people of J&K where we stand,” the NC president said.
He asked the people to be united and frustrate the designs of those bent on dividing them on communal lines.