National Conference President Farooq Abdullah said the recent terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir should be investigated to see if an attempt was made to destabilize the government. He said terrorists should be caught, not killed, and interrogated to get to the bottom of who is behind the attacks. Abdullah’s comments were in response to a question on whether Pakistan should be blamed for every terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir, including the recent Budgam terror attack.
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Farooq Abdullah said that there is no question about this. I would say that it should be investigated. They (terrorists) should not be killed, they should be caught and asked who is behind them. We should investigate whether there is any agency which is trying to destabilize Omar Abdullah. Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference had won a decisive victory in the recently concluded Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. The party won 42 out of 90 seats, ally Congress got six and Omar Abdullah took oath as the Chief Minister.
Farooq Abdullah questioned whether the increase in terrorist attacks was meant to “destabilize the government of Jammu and Kashmir”. BJP has become an attacker on this statement of Farooq Abdullah. BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said that it is very unfortunate that on such a sensitive issue, some people are giving priority to politics, family and vote bank instead of giving priority to the country. He said that it does not suit Farooq Abdullah to blame the Indian Army and Indian agencies for shirking his responsibility or for saving the sponsors of terrorism.
Jammu and Kashmir BJP President Ravinder Raina said that the army, police and security forces should have our full support. He said that Farooq Abdullah knows that this terrorism is coming from Pakistan. This is a well known fact. What is the point of investigation in this? They know that Pakistan and terrorist organizations have a hand in the terrorist attacks taking place in Jammu and Kashmir. We all should support our army, police and security forces. We have to fight unitedly against those who are enemies of humanity.
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Meanwhile, Congress and Sharad Pawar’s party NCP defended Farooq Abdullah’s statement. Sharad Pawar described Farooq Abdullah as ‘the greatest personality of Jammu and Kashmir’ and said, ‘He spent his life in the service of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. I have no doubt about his integrity and honesty. If such a leader is making any statement, then the Central Government, especially the Home Ministry, should take it seriously and try to find out how that situation can be resolved.” Jammu and Kashmir Congress President Tariq Hamed Karra also claimed that there were “deficiencies in the intelligence grid” that needed to be addressed.
