"What will you expect from Delhi?" Farooq asks, says neighbour 'saving them'

Srinagar, Oct 24 (UNI) National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Saturday triggered a political row by crediting Pakistan, without naming it, for saving people of Jammu and Kashmir.

He also questioned whether Jammu and Kashmir could expect justice from Delhi. Addressing a one-day party convention in Baramulla, Abdullah urged people to find the courage to stand up and fight. "What will you expect from Delhi? Do you expect them to deliver justice for you?" he asked. "If you do not, you will be wiped out. Your name and identity will disappear, and no one will even remember you." Abdullah said Delhi was restrained only by international pressure.

"They are silent today because of the pressure from the world," he said. "Our neighbour (referring to Pakistan) is constantly after them. It goes everywhere, saying that the Kashmir issue has not been resolved. It is protecting us; otherwise, their intentions are not good. They say one thing but do something entirely different," he added.

He called on people to hold to the truth. "Speaking the truth is not easy, but unless you speak the truth and stand firm by it, your future will never be secure," he said. National Conference president urged the youth to stand up and raise their voice for their rights, asserting that they were not snatching anyone else's rights and were not against the country. "We are not enemies of the country. We will progress with the country. We will stay with the country," he said, while calling on rulers to "correct" and "improve" themselves.

The NC patron also accused the Lieutenant Governor of misrepresenting where power lies in the union Territory. He said files had been pending with the LG for one to two years without being signed, yet the LG tells him, "I don't have anything. Everything is with the (elected) government." "He is lying," Abdullah said.

The former three time Chief Minister said he once told the LG that the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), which used to be autonomous, had lost its autonomy. Its director once made decisions with a committee, he said. "I said to him, sir, you have ended the autonomy of this institute. He said it to my face: absolutely not, it is completely autonomous...." Abdullah said.

The NC President said the Prime Minister and the union Home Minister had made commitments to the people of Jammu and Kashmir regarding delimitation, elections and restoration of statehood thereafter. However, despite the passage of two years, statehood had not been restored. Criticising the delimitation exercise carried out in Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah said that it had been designed to benefit a particular political party.

He pointed out that six Assembly seats had been added in Jammu, while Kashmir received only one additional seat. He said the BJP had benefited from the additional seats in Jammu and won all of them. He also questioned the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies, stating that instead of providing separate parliamentary constituencies for the Pir Panjal and Chenab Valley regions, Rajouri and Poonch had been attached to the Anantnag constituency. This, he said, had disregarded the geographical realities and public needs of the region. During the convention, President of the Tradeers Federation Baramulla, Engineer Tariq Ahmad Mugloo joined the party.

UNI MJR BM