Targeted killings would not stop without talks with Pakistan: Farooq Abdullah
He said the BJP would earlier blame the Constitution’s Article 370 for such killings but people are still dying four years after the provision that granted J&K semi-autonomous status was revoked
Former Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Monday said targeted killings would not stop in the region unless New Delhi talks with Islamabad like it was talking to China to resolve the border issue in Ladakh. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would earlier blame the Constitution’s Article 370 for such killings and other ills but people are still dying four years after the provision that granted J&K semi-autonomous status was revoked
“Targeted killings would not stop unless they [India and Pakistan] hold talks. They [BJP] earlier held Article 370 responsible for the killings and other ills. ...it has been four years since Article 370 was revoked [in August 2019] but still, people are dying,” said Abdullah after offering condolences to the family of a party colleague.
He asked if Article 370 was responsible for such killings, then why innocent Kashmiri Pandit Puran Krishan Bhat was killed. “There must be some reason. Article 370 was not responsible for killings because terrorism is being sponsored from outside.”
Bhat was killed last week in the latest in a series of targeted killings in Kashmir since last year.
Abdullah said the killings would not cease unless terrorism is stopped. “...it can never be done militarily alone. We have to find a way out via talks. ...what is going on in the Russia-Ukraine war. They have been fighting for months and what have they achieved.. people have died,” he said. “...when we are talking to China...to resolve our border issue...why cannot we talk to them [Pakistan] and find a way out. Otherwise, we will continue to die.”
He also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments in context to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that “today’s era is not an era of war”.
