Jamaat ban serves no purpose: Farooq

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 8

National Conference (NC) president and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Friday questioned the Centre’s ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), saying the government should deal with it politically.

Farooq, while talking to the media on the sidelines of a function here on International Women’s Day, said, “Unless you (Centre) deal with them politically, you are not going to sort these people out. Banning something is not the way out. The minute we ban anything, it goes underground and becomes more vicious.”

Responding to a volley of queries on the Centre’s recent decision of banning the JeI, Farooq said, “You have to talk to them and find out why are they not a part of this nation? What stops them to be a part of this nation? That is what we need to know.”

To a query whether the JeI had any terror links, Farooq said, “I don’t know. I am not in power now. So that information will only be with the intelligence agencies and the Governor, who rules the state today.”

When asked about the Jaish-e-Mohammad’s terror attack in Pulwama, Farooq said, “Who released Masood Azhar? Who took him to Kandhar? The Centre should answer this. I told them not to release him. But today, I am an ‘anti-national’ and they are the ‘nationalists’.”

The NC chief also said his party was ready for the upcoming elections to Parliament and state Assembly and both should be held together.

“We are ready for elections. We told it (the team of Election Commission of India) to conduct both elections together as it requires equal arrangements for both the polls. They should not waste time,” he said.

Farooq was the chief guest at a function organised by women’s club ‘Meri Pehchan’ in Jammu, where he promised that if NC came to power, it would give 33 per cent reservation to women in the state Assembly.

Ex-IGP joins NC

Srinagar: Shafqat Ali Watali, who retired from service earlier this year, joined the National Conference (NC) on Friday, becoming the third Indian Police Service (IPS) officer to join the party ahead of the elections. Watali, a 1984-batch Kashmir Police Service officer, who was inducted into the IPS in 2010, joined the NC at a function presided by party president Farooq Abdullah. Vice-president of the NC Omar Abdullah and general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar welcomed Watali. Watali’s police career lasted nearly four decades. He is the the third IPS officer to have joined the NC in recent months. TNS