‘Kashmir and always will be a part of India’: Farooq Abdullah meets tourists in Pahgam after the terrorist attack. Bharat News
New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference chairman Farooq Abdullah Visited Pahalgam on Saturday and interacted with tourists after a deadly terrorist attack, saying that Kashmir was “and will always be a part of India.”
Talking to reporters, Abdullah said that the biggest message after the incident is that tourists are “not afraid.”
“Those who wanted to spread fear have lost. They (terrorists) have lost. It has been proved today that we are not afraid. Kashmir was always a part of India. People want to end terrorism. It has been 35 years. We have seen terrorism. We want to move forward. We will become a superpower one day.”
Speaking to the ANI news agency, Abdullah called the attack an Act of inhuman cruelty and urged the country to unite against terrorism. He said that the time had come for the decades of violence to end, saying, “The utensils have swept away.”
Abdullah said that Jammu and Kashmir are never standing with Pakistan and will never do it. In a hearty message to the victims, he mentioned the newly married bride and the child who saw his father drowning in blood, saying, “We also cried. We did not even eat.”
He attacked the attackers, saying that he “kills humanity” and has no right to call himself a Muslim. “They are not human,” they said.
He assured the grieving families that their suffering would not be wasted and justice would be given. “We have been with it for 35 years. But they never live, and they will never.”
Abdullah refused to comment on the remarks made by former Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto, stating that it would be a counter -counterplace to pay attention to such statements.
“If we go by Bilawal Bhutto’s statements, we cannot move forward. I have been saying for a long time that the Indus Water Treaty should be reviewed again. Our rivers and we are the ones who are deprived,” he said.
After his comments, Bhutto accepted the past participation with Pakistan’s terrorist operators.
During the visit, Abdullah, Nekan met with MLA Altaf Kalu, Syed Adil Hussain Shah’s father Hyder Shah – a local resident, who lost his life in the Pahgam terror attack while trying to save tourists.
“Farooq Abdullah shared our grief and gave us courage in our grief, which is helping us move forward,” Hyder Shah said.
Earlier in the day, India formally imposed immediate ban on import and transit of all goods generated or exported through Pakistan, according to a notification by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The notification, issued under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, and the foreign trade policy 2023, prevents all bilateral trade with immediate effect.
The Center has also suspended all bounded mails and parcels from Pakistan.
This step follows a series of measures taken by the Center in response to the initiative attack claiming 26 lives. These include closure of integrated check posts (ICP) in Attari, suspending the SAARC visa discount scheme for Pakistani citizens, directing them to leave India within 40 hours and reducing diplomatic staff in high commissions of both countries.
India has also suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty as part of the widespread response to the ugly attack.
