Farooq: Entire Indian forces can’t defend against terrorists

Asserting that the entire Indian security forces would not be able to defend the nation from terrorists, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Saturday called for a dialogue between the India and Pakistan to end violence at the border.

“For how long do we want to see innocents being killed (in the border areas)? How much the army can defend us? Even if the entire Indian Army comes then they will not be able to defend against the terrorists. There is only one way and that is to talk to them,” Abdullah said at a press conference here. The former state chief minister also reiterated his earlier stance that PoK belonged to Pakistan and that India should be content with Jammu and Kashmir, saying that both nations do not have the courage to take each others’ territories.

“Farooq Abdullah will say this again and again. Not for the last 15 years but ever since I entered politics, I have never felt that these two sides can be united. Neither do we have the courage to take their territory, nor do they have the courage to take ours. We are also a nuclear power; they are also a nuclear power,” he said.

Abdullah said that dialogue is the only way forward for a resolution to the Kashmir issue. 

“Ever since I came into politics, I have always said that this state (PoK and J-K) can never become one. Neither do we have the power to take back their part (PoK) nor have they (Pakistan) the power to take our part; we are a nuclear power and they, too, are,” he said at a discussion by civil society to explore the ways for bringing peace and reconciliation between the two countries.