KASHMIR WILL NEVER BECOME PART OF PAKISTAN: FAROOQ ABDULLAH

Srinagar: Dec 05 (Only Kashmir): In the first public function in the city after the unprecedented five month long separatist groundswell, leading to death of 116 youth, union minister for non-renewable resources Dr Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said that the state would never become a part of Pakistan even as his son, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah urged separatists to come forward for talks with New Delhi, now that they had talked to parliamentarians.

The function was held on the bank of Dal lake at the mausoleum of the National Conference founder Sheikh Abdullah on his 105th birth anniversary. With thousands of people attending, the function also served as a symbolic return of the ruling National Conference to the centrestage in Kashmir, after being virtually relegated to the margins through the summer agitation.
“There will be no Pakistan here. Kashmir will never become a part of Pakistan,” Abdullah thundered as the people listened in rapt attention. Abdullah said that only solution to Kashmir was his party’s long standing proposal for autonomy to the state within constitution of India. “ Only autonomy to Kashmir will help restore peace,” he said.