Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and senior National Conference (NC) leader and MP Farooq Abdullah on December 26 warned of a situation akin to Gaza in Palestine if India did not have a dialogue with Pakistan over Kashmir.
“Dialogue is the only way forward to resolve lingering issues. If a conducive atmosphere for a dialogue is not worked out between India and Pakistan, the day is not far when J&K will become like Gaza, and people will suffer like in Palestine,” Dr. Abdullah said in Srinagar.
He claimed that Pakistani leader Nawaz Sharif was likely to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan in the upcoming elections in the neighbouring country. “Mr. Sharif has repeatedly said he was ready to talk to India. What is the reason [that] we are not ready to talk? If we do not find a solution through dialogue, we will meet the same fate as Gaza and Palestine,” Dr. Abdullah said.
Reiterating the statement made by the late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that friends can be changed but not neighbours, Dr. Abdullah urged India and Pakistan to come forward and resolve issues.
“If we maintain good relations with our neighbours, only then we can move forward. Even PM [Narendra] Modi had said that war is not an option. So today, if voices of dialogue come from Pakistan, why are we not responding to them?” he asked.
Dr. Abdullah said “those making tall claims on the end of militancy” did not know that it would not end “till a conducive environment for talks is made”. “Militancy is not going to end till that time,” he said.
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