Kashmiris don’t feel they’re Indian: Farooq

BJP hits back, wants him to quit as MP

NEW DELHI: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah in an interview said that at this moment people from Kashmir do not feel and do not want to be Indian and might even want the Chinese coming in.
Responding to a question in an interview to TV anchor and journalist Karan Thapar on the mood of people in the Valley, Abdullah said, “To be honest, I wonder whether they (government) will find someone who will call himself an Indian...You go and talk to anybody they don’t want to know, not Pakistanis let me be very clear about it, but they don’t feel Indian and us who have to speak, I wonder whether we will survive.”
In the interview to an online news portal, Abdullah said this is the mood because people in Kashmir “can no longer trust” the government. He said it was easy for people of the Valley to go with Pakistan during partition, but they “joined Gandhi’s India and not Modi’s India.”
Unidentified terrorists shot dead an advocate in Hawal area of the Srinagar on Thursday, police said. The ultras fired upon advocate Babar Qadri at his Hawal residence around 6:25 pm from close range before fleeing the spot, a police official said. Qadri, in his early 40s, was rushed to the SKIMS hospital, where doctors declared him 'dead on arrival', according to the official.
He said, “Today China is advancing on the other side, many if you talk to them, they would rather have Chinese coming in. Whatever one may say, they know what Chinese have done to Muslims in their region. I am not serious, but I am honest about it. I am honestly telling you what people don’t want to hear. They would rather not go to Pakistan because everything is rust.”
Blaming the Centre, he claimed that if he speaks about India anywhere in the Valley, there is none to listen. He claimed there are security personnel in every street carrying AK-47. “Where is the freedom?” he asked.
Meanwhile BJP slammed Farooq Abdullah over his 'Kashmiris prefer Chinese rule' remark.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said in an interview that at this moment people from Kashmir do not feel and do not want to be Indian and might even want the Chinese coming in.
Abdullah said, “To be honest, I wonder whether they (government) will find someone who will call himself an Indian...You go and talk to anybody they don’t want to know, not Pakistanis let me be very clear about it, but they don’t feel Indian and us who have to speak, I wonder whether we will survive.”