The National Conference will not take part in any electoral politics until the Government of India restores Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood and special status, party MP from North Kashmir Mahammad Akbar Lone said on Sunday. He added that the party will devise a strategy with its political opponents to fight for the restoration of the state’s special position in the Union of India.
The statement comes two days after Lone and another National Conference MP Hasnain Masoodi met detained party leaders Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah in Srinagar.
While Omar, the National Conference’s vice-president, is in solitary confinement at the Hari Niwas palace for the past 42 days, the senior Abdullah, who is the party’s president and incumbent Srinagar MP, is under house arrest at his Gupkar residence.
Lone’s is the first official statement from the National Conference about the party’s future strategy after New Delhi on August 5 read down Article 370, a constitutional provision that gave J&K a special status.
“The Modi government will have to pay a heavy price for this (revocation of Article 370),” Lone said, talking to a group of journalists at his residence.
He said the Centre “wrongly thinks” that by removing Article 370, it has resolved the Kashmir issue. “They are mistaken. Kashmiris are fortunate that the government took this step. They (the Government of India) have injected fresh life into this (Kashmir) movement. The Kashmir issue is again being discussed at the international level,” said Lone. “The Centre will see the fallout of its decision in the years to come.”
Lone believes there was “already no love lost in the hearts of Kashmiris for India”. “By taking this arrogant step, it has thrown the Kashmiris out and led to more hatred among people against India,” said Lone, the former speaker of J&K legislative assembly and a former minister.
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