Mehbooba slams Farooq Abdullah for backing Hurriyat plans

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday lashed out at National Conference president Farooq Abdullah for extending support to the separatist Hurriyat Conference, accusing the opposition of being involved in criminal activities for the past five months.

Mufti accused the National Conference of being “opportunist” and of going to any extreme to grab power. She was reacting to Abdullah’s statement made a day earlier, when he said his party supported Hurriyat’s “right cause” and urged party workers to be part of the ongoing movement.

The chief minister said the National Conference was involved in criminal activities for the past five months since it did not want peace.

“Some people damaged vehicles, burnt schools and attacked security camps,” she said. The comments come ahead of the parliamentary byelections in two constituencies of Srinagar and Anantnag.

“As normalcy has restored and children go to schools and tourism has started to pick up again, Farooq Sahab directs his workers to spoil the situation in the Valley. They (NC) don’t want the situation to improve,” Mufti said.

She alleged that Abdullah and his son Omar could play with the “lives of children and women to grab chair” and that they were speaking in different voices. “Omar Abdullah was external affairs minister in the BJP-led government. He used speak against Pakistan on both national and international fora.

He advocated that Pakistan be declared a terrorist state,” Mufti said. Omar Abdullah recently stated that Pakistan was not behind the ongoing protests in Kashmir.

Farooq Abdullah, Mufti said, once called for “bombing Pakistan and throwing Hurriyat leaders into river Jhelum”.