Incase of war, Kashmir will be the first target: Farooq

Izhar Ali

Srinagar, December 3: Former Chief Minister and National Conference Patron, Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said that incase  war breaks out between India and Pakistan, Kashmiris will be the first victim of the war. He also refuted news reports of bombing Pakistan administered Kashmir, which were attributed to him by some section of media on Tuesday.

 “The newspapers who write about bombardment of Azad Kashmir should remember that they (Pakistan) too have atom bombs.Incase of a war,they (Pakistan) may drop the first atom bomb on Kashmiris,”Abdullah told journalists before filing nomination papers from Srinagar’s Sonawar constituency that will go for polls during the last phase of seven phase assembly elections in the state on December 24.

NC patron was accompanied by senior leaders Ali Mohammad Sagar, Mubarak Gul, Irfan Ahmad Shah, Davinder Rana and others.

Dozens of NC supporters were chanting slogans in favor of the party and its patron outside the office of returning officer, Sonawar when the nomination papers were being filed.

On Monday, NC patron who is also the Chief Ministerial candidate of the party filed nomination papers from Srinagar’s Hazratbal constituency that will go for elections on December 24.

Coming down heavily on a section of media over the reportage of his speech at the all party meet convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at New Delhi last week, Abdullah said that some newspapers on the behest of Peoples Democratic Party were maligning his image and distorting the facts.

“What I have said during my speech at All party meet in Delhi is that India cannot fight terrorism alone. We need to have united action against it. We should take up this issue with the United Nations, security council as 30 foreigners were also killed in the attack,” NC Patron said.

He warned these newspapers to refrain from such kinds of acts which are aimed to ensure the victory of PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Syed.

”If they think by doing these acts Mufti will win they are wrong,” he said

Abdullah said that he told the leaders present in the meet at New Delhi that Pakistan government is new and weak too and any step by India will endanger the government of Pakistan and make it unstable.

Expressing satisfaction over the voter turn out in the last three phases of elections, NC patron said he is hopeful that more and more people will take part in the electoral process and ensure the victory of his party.

When asked why he filed nomination papers for Sonawar constituency as he had submitted nomination papers from Hazratbal constituency two days ago, NC patron said that the people forced him to contest from two constituencies of Srinagar.

“I am sure that not only Hazratbal but I’ll win from Sonawar as well,” NC patron said.

On this occasion, NC patron announced that Javed Iqbal, ex husband of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has joined the party.