‘I’m Indian’: Farooq on Pak response to Art 370
After Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif said that his nation and the National Conference-Congress alliance were on the same page on the restoration of Article 370, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said he wasn’t aware of the neighbouring country’s stance on “One nation, one election”.
“I don’t know what Pakistan says. I am not a Pakistani, but an Indian citizen," National Conference president Farooq said while speaking to ANI.
On the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly elections, he said everything would be clear before the people on October 8 (the counting day). "Wait till October 8, everything will be clear. The first thing I will do is bring back the Darbar Move, which signified a deep relationship between the Jammu and the Kashmir divisions… People used to shift to Jammu in winter and to Srinagar in summer. People have suffered heavy losses after the discontinuation of the Darbar Move," he said.
The BJP had targeted the Congress-National Conference alliance over Pakistan minister Khwaja’s statement on the restoration of Article 370. “Pakistan, a terrorist state, endorses Congress-National Conference's position on Kashmir. Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, on Hamid Mir's ‘Capital Talk’ on Geo News says, "Pakistan and National Conference-Congress alliance are on the same page in Jammu & Kashmir to restore Article 370 and 35A. How is it that from Pannun to Pakistan, Rahul Gandhi and his Congress are always seen on the side of those inimical to India's interests?" BJP leader Amit Malviya posted on X.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said the question now was what this relation of the Congress & NC with Pakistan should be called? “We can see how the Congress and the National Conference, part of INDIA bloc, are continuously trying to join hands with Pakistan," he said.
