Farooq Abdullah says PoK is Pakistan Kashmir, J&K is India’s.’ That remark made headlines way back in November 2015. Slamming the resolution passed by both Houses of the Parliament in 1994 which asserts that Jammu and Kashmir in its entirety belongs to India, the former chief minister of the state pompously declared that “Practically it is not possible to keep PoK with us. We have fought three wars with Pakistan, but could not take back PoK.”
On Saturday, Farooq, now a National Conference MP from Srinagar, reiterated this position while speaking to cadres at his headquarters. However, he added, independence was not an option for the state. “On one side we have China, Pakistan on the other side and India on the third side. All three of them have atom bombs and we have nothing except Allah’s name.
Those who are talking about Azadi, are talking wrong.” He then went on to accuse the Indian government of “betraying” the Kashmiris. “They did not recognise the love with which we chose to join them,” he said, demanding more autonomy for the state.
Farooq’s remarks come soon after Pakistan’s PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi too declared that the idea of an independent Kashmir was not based on reality, implying it belonged to Pakistan. They also come at a time when the Centre’s new interlocutor for Kashmir has just started his talks with the stakeholders. So here we have a sitting MP not only challenging a Parliamentary resolution, but also undermining attempts by the government to resolve the situation.
The ruling BJP was muted in its response, with Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi saying that the senior Kashmiri leader “talks irrationally sometimes”. Then, on Sunday, we had fading Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor endorsing Farooq, saying that accepting PoK as a part of Pakistan was the only way to resolve the problem, a problem which prevented him and his family from visiting Pakistan. With eminent Indian citizens like these, who needs enemies?