BJP protests against Farooq Abdullah's PoK remark

JAMMU: BJP today here held protests against National Conference president Farooq Abdullah for his remarks on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Led by President, BJP Jammu and Kashmir Displaced District, the protestors, which included activists of displaced Kashmiri pandits, took out a rally from Prem Nath Dogra Bhawn in Kachi Chawni here and were demanding an apology from the former chief minister of the state for his remarks.

Bhat expressed surprise over the "immature statement by Farooq that PoK is not an ancestral property of India and leaders in New Delhi should leave claim on it."

Before giving such irrelevant statement, Farooq must have gone through the topography of Jammu and Kashmir before its accession with India, he said.

"Everybody knows that during the rule of Dogra King Mahraja Hari Singh, POK was an integral part of Jammu and Kashmir. The statement of Farooq is shocking as it came from a person who has been the chief minister of the state and served in the Centre as Union Minister," Bhat told reporters here.

He alleged that Farooq's statement seems to "please separatists in Kashmir and finding out the lost foothold."

The protestors later burnt an effigy of the NC president.