Separatists slam Farooq for his POK remarks, BJP seeks apology

Jammu:-BJP on Saturday sought an apology from Farooq Abdullah for saying that PcK is part of Pakistan, and said he was "deliberately raking up" the issue in order to remain in news for his political survival.

"Probably Farooq Abdullah is either suffering from amnesia or deliberately raking up the settled issue in order to remain in news for his political survival," BJP spokesperson Virender Gupta told reporters.

Gupta strongly condemned the statement the NC Patron made on Friday. He said Farooq Abdullah's father Sheikh Abdullah had even endorsed the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India.

Gupta said Abdullah must seek apology from the nation for his this blunder and set things in the right perspective.

Meanwhile almost all separatist groups on Saturday hit out at Farooq Abdullah for his statement, claiming it was far from ground reality in the state. "Farooq Abdullah's statement is meaningless and far from reality. No one person has the mandate to make any suggestion (for resolution of Kashmir issue)...," Hurriyat (G) leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said in a statement.

Moderate faction of Hurriyat headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also criticised the former chief minister's statement, terming it as "historically incorrect". "Kashmir is an internationally accepted disputed territory and the resolution of the dispute would be possible only by resolving it in accordance with the aspirations of the people of Kashmir," its spokesman said. "The Hurriyat stands for the re-unification of all five regions of the state of Jammu Kashmir which includes Kashmir, Jammu, Ladakh, Azad Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit-Baltistan," he said.

The spokesman said "nobody's personal viewpoint could change the disputed character of Kashmir or change the political and historical realities of the issue". Pro-independence JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik said Abdullah's statement was a case of "slave mentality".

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