‘Outsourcing’ problem will not help, says Farooq Abdullah

Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Union minister and president of Jammu and Kashmir’s main Opposition National Conference (NC) Farooq Abdullah also broke his silence on the 31-day-old unrest in the Valley on Tuesday and sought to trace its genesis to the “injustice of 1953”.

He urged the Prime Minister to initiate a process of comprehensive and meaningful dialogue on Kashmir as “outsourcing” the problem to the home and defence ministries or bureaucracy in New Delhi would not help.

Mr Abdullah chose to speak on the turbulence which has already claimed the lives of 56 civilians and two policemen on the an-niversary of his father Sheikh Muhammad Abdul-lah’s dismissal and detention on August 9, 1953, a coup d’etat, endorsed and facilitated by one-time “fast friend” and first PM of the country Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

Farooq Abdullah and his NC saw it not only as a “betrayal”, but the root cause of the turmoil.

Mr Abdullah said, “Those Central leaders in New Delhi who are advocating a political solution to the Kashmir issue today are showing a welcome and positive development.”