Srinagar: Peoples Conference Chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Tuesday claimed that top leadership of the BJP had turned down National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah’s “offer” of rotational chief ministership of Jammu and Kashmir following the 2014 Assembly elections.
Addressing a mammoth gathering at Handwara, Sajad said that “Omar Abdullah, after the 2014 polls, met the top BJP leadership for more than two and half hours in a high rise building at Connaught Place and sought support from them to form the government. The deal that he had offered them was for a rotational chief minister wherein he would be the CM for 3 years and the BJP would have their Chief Minister from Jammu for 3 years. However, the deal was rejected by the top BJP leadership.”
Sajad said that Omar, who has been beating everyone with the BJP stick, is, in fact, a BJP reject. Let him rebut what we are saying.
“Omar has been accusing every political opponent of being close to the BJP. May I ask Omar that if he is so ideologically opposed to the BJP, then why did he meet their top leadership for more than two and a half hours? Why did he beg for their support to become the Chief Minister? He was he so desperate for their support that he was even willing to accept a Jammu’s CM for three years. However, his offer was rejected by the BJP leadership after which he has been beating everyone with the BJP stick. Had the BJP accepted his offer, he would have wholeheartedly accepted the BJP and their demand for Chief Minister from Jammu.”
Sajad provided a detailed timeline which he said is a bloody timeline for the Kashmiri people.
“Let’s start with the UN where Sheikh sahib had gone in his capacity as the Chief Executive of the Maharaja and to which Pakistan had objected. They termed him as an employee of the Maharaja. It is during that regime that the massacre of the Muslims took place in Jammu. In 1975, the Sheikh bartered away the post of prime minister and took oath as Chief Minister. In 1987, Farooq Abdullah rigged the polls and pushed Kashmir into a state of violence which shows no sign of abating and devours Kashmiri on a daily basis. The Kashmiris rose in revolt in 1989 and took up the gun. As the Kashmiris rose in revolt, thousands were killed, and mainstream political activity came to a halt”, he added.
Sajad further said that no Kashmiri party was willing to contest polls until the Indian state offered some political deal to the Kashmiris but Farooq Abdullah sabotaged any such possibility.
“Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister in trying to end the conflict made a speech prior to 1996 elections saying ‘Sky is the Limit’ in terms of political concessions that the Indian state could offer to the Kashmiri people. It was a clear hint at offering internal autonomy. Farooq Abdullah starved of power yet again moved in sabotaged any such possibility. He cut a deal agreeing to contest in return for ‘government on a platter’. In what was more of a selection than election the NC was again handed over power through a theatrical election bereft of electors. He literally took on the role of a military administrator and some of the cruelest days that the Kashmiris endured were during his tenure in 1996-2002.”
Sajad said that Farooq Abdullah scuttled talks between GoI and the Hizbul Mujhaideen in 2001.
“In 2001 Hizbul Mujhaideen announced a ceasefire. The GOI responded positively and a ceasefire was brought in effect. Farooq sahib was unambiguously opposed to it and favoured continued military action. The GOI initiated dialogue with the militants of HM. The first round was supposed to be held in Srinagar. The talks were supposed to be held away from the glare of the press. The CM office under Farooq Abdullah tipped the press and the unsuspecting militants arrived at the venue to finds hundreds of pressmen. That was the end of the dialogue process and subsequently, all those militants were killed. There is not a single atrocity in Kashmir which does not bear the sign and seal of the NC. The two hangings the PSA, POTA all executed during their regimes.
On Omar Abdullah frequently referring to some person and his elder brother, Sajad said that he will try and figure who Omar is referring to as his elder brother. He said that Omar Abdullah should make efforts to ensure the safety of Kashmiris in Rajasthan where his close relative is deputy chief minister.
“It might be a good idea to utilize their influence to prevent frequent attacks on Kashmiris in Rajasthan,” he said.
On AFSPA Sajad Lone said that “military measures have outlived their utility, if any, in Kashmir. Non-military measures are overdue. And non-military measures would mean full reversal of the erosion to state’s special status. BJP needs to understand that AFSPA is a part of the problem and cannot become a part of the solution. Arrogance and belligerence won’t take the BJP too far in Kashmir”, he added. (GNS)
