New Delhi: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has said the Kashmir problem will not end “until we talk to our neighbour” and find a real solution to the decades-old problem. The NC chief also said that India will not be able to progress and become stronger until we are united. The 85-year-old politician was speaking during a book launch event. The book, “A Life in the Shadows a Memoir”, has been authored by former RAW chief AS Dulat, who retired from service in 2000.
Abdullah said, “India is a unique country and it is because we all think together…we have to return to Gandhi’s India…if the country has to progress, division has to end.” “Until we are united, the country will never be strong,” he said. Without naming Pakistan, Abdullah said, “Kashmir problem will not end…and I am sorry to say that terrorism will remain till we talk to our neighbor and find the right solution.” ”
Abdullah said that when former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had sought his opinion before visiting Pakistan in 1999, he had given the same message to the two countries to “unite and build bridges”. Today’s prime minister (Narendra Modi) has “stated openly that war is not the solution to anything”, he said, adding the Russia-Ukraine war was a case in point.
The former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir expressed his unhappiness over some of the current developments taking place in the country. He said, “Look at the institutions, the governors, look at the lieutenant governor… how they are playing with the constitution… I could never think of this.”
Dulat, a 1965-batch retired IPS officer, reiterated the same sentiments during the event and said that “terrorism (in Jammu and Kashmir) will not end until we join Pakistan.” It (terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir) will continue, said the former head of the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s external intelligence agency.
However, he added that he would “accept” that the level of militancy has come down due to the “muscle power policy” adopted by the current dispensation. But there is a difference, extremism is local whereas terrorism comes from across the border, Dulat said. Asked what is wrong with relations between New Delhi and Kashmir, Dulat said, “There has always been alienation with the people and there has been a lack of trust.”