NEW DELHI: Speaking in Parliament for the first time since his release from detention, the National Conference president and MP Farooq Abdullah on Saturday advocated talks with Pakistan, saying if India can talk to China to defuse their border row, it can also speak to its other neighbour to deal with the situation at Jammu and Kashmir borders.
Noting that he was speaking in Lok Sabha after more than a year, Abdullah said Jammu and Kashmir has not seen any progress and spoke about authorities blocking 4G facilities in the Union Territory which, he added, goes against the interest of students and traders.
People are unemployed, engineers who formed an association to work have been "stopped" from working, he said about the union territory.
If India is developing, does not Jammu and Kashmir have the right to develop with the country as well, he asked.
Pitching for talks with Pakistan, he said, "Border skirmishes have been rising and people are dying. A way has to be found to deal with this. Except for talks. As you are talking to China to attempt that it withdraws (from Ladakh border), we should also talk to our (other) neighbour to find a way to get out of this situation."
His advocacy for talks with Pakistan during the Zero Hour drew protests from treasury benches.
The Srinagar MP also expressed his happiness at the findings of an Army inquiry into the killings of three men in Shopian in an encounter.
"I am happy that the Army has admitted that three Shopian men were killed mistakenly. I hope the government gives a hefty compensation," he said.
Officials had said on Friday the Army has found "prima facie" evidence that its troops "exceeded" powers under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act during the encounter in July and has initiated disciplinary proceedings.
He also conveyed his gratitude to parliamentarians for speaking for him when he was under detention.
Abdullah and many other leaders were put under detention by authorities last year after the Union government abrogated Article 370, which had given special powers to the erstwhile state, and split Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.
He was released in March this year.
(With PTI Inputs)