Defence experts slam Abdullah, accuse him of speaking separatists' language

Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], Feb. 25 (ANI): A day after former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah remarked that the youth of the valley was picking up ammunition not to become legislators, but to fight for the freedom the valley, defence experts on Saturday said the former was speaking the language of separatists. Defence Expert Sunil Deshpande said the National Conference president made such an 'irrelevant' comment to mark his presence. "Farooq Abdullah has again spoken the language of separatists. He has not made up his mind. When he is in power, the National Conference (NC) speaks something else and when they are out of power, they speak something else. Farooq Abdullah wants to show his presence. In fact, he is irrelevant but he wants to show he is relevant and that is why he makes such statements," Deshpande told ANI. Deshpande further extended his support towards the Indian Army, saying that the forces should not be perturbed by such kind of statements and should continue doing their operations. "The Indian Army should not be disturbed by such kind of statements. They should carry out their operations in the way the Chief of the Army Staff has said," he said. Another defence expert, Shivali Deshpande reverberated the opinion, saying Abdullah's statement was uncalled for. All the political parties in Jammu and Kashmir follow the same pattern only to create unrest, Shivali told ANI. "The statement made by Farooq Abdullah is absolutely irrelevant and uncalled for. In fact, he is speaking the lines of separatists. If you see history, this has been the line of all political parties of Kashmir which are not in power. When the NC was in power, they spoke differently. When they are not in power, they are siding with the separatists. Same was the case with the PDP and same is the case with any government in Jammu and Kashmir," she said. "After the Chief of the Army Staff, there has been a bit of unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. So, such kinds of statements are made by the political leaders to instigate people, to make them protest. This statement should be ignored. The Indian Army should not be perturbed by this," she added. Earlier, Farooq Abdullah said the youth were sacrificing their lives to solve the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing workers at the Nawa-e-Subh party headquarters in Srinagar, Abdullah said, "Today, when our boys are rendering sacrifices, they are not aspiring to become MLAs, MPs or ministers. They are giving sacrifices to demand their right. This is our land and we are its rightful owners." Abdullah's statement came days after Army Chief General Bipin Rawat warned stone pelters not to interfere with army operations in Kashmir. General Rawat had, earlier this month, said, "People who have picked up arms, the local boys, if they want to continue with such acts of terrorism and display flags of ISIS and Pakistan, then we will treat them as anti-national elements and go helter-skelter for them. They may survive today but we will get them tomorrow. Our relentless operations will continue." (ANI)