ED summons aimed at curtailing Farooq Abdullah's efforts to weave unity among J-K parties: NC

Srinagar: The National Conference on Wednesday expressed anger over the ED summoning party president Farooq Abdullah for questioning for second time within a week, and said these tactics are only aimed at "browbeating" opposition leaders who raise their voice against the BJP's "divisive politics".

Abdullah, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in connection with a money laundering probe into an alleged multi-crore scam in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA). He was questioned for over six hours on October 19 in the case.

His son and former chief minister Omar Abdullah expressed his displeasure and tweeted the party statement on his father's summoning with a comment: "This on a day when my father turns 84!"

The party lambasted the government for "its agenda of cornering any voices of dissent".

"How many times will BJP use CBI, ED, anti-corruption bureau and its other agencies to browbeat opposition? The plot has become predictable. Anyone who speaks against the government or musters courage against its divisive politics will be hounded and summoned," it said.

Terming these ED summons "calculated coercive measures", NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said that it is aimed at curtailing Farooq Abdullah's efforts to weave unity among mainstream political parties in JK.

Calling the repeated ED summons as pressure tactics, he said, "What is it that ED forgot to ask during the six hours it interrogated an 83-yr-old Member of Parliament?

The government and its agencies, the spokesperson said, has no consideration for a law-abiding citizen who is severely immuno compromised and diabetic.

"Abdullah being treated like this is a proof that the BJP is not even interested in a face-saving act and is completely comfortable with being seen as a bully by the nation," he said.

He said that the "only way to get a clean chit these days is to surrender ones ideology and join the BJP. We've seen this story play out from Assam to Karnataka, from West Bengal to Andhra Pradesh but Dr Abdullah is not going to surrender to the BJP, come what may."