Jammu Tawi, March 6: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said they would be grateful to the BJP-led government if alongside Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) it also retrieves the part of the Union Territory (UT) under illegal occupation of China.
He came down heavily on the BJP leaders for accusing the National Conference (NC) of insulting Jammu and Kashmir’s last ruler Maharaja Hari Singh and challenged them to give just one instance when the ruling party or any other Kashmir-based party insulted the Dogra ruler while the BJP disintegrated and downgraded his Muslim majority state.
“The foreign minister (S Jaishankar) is saying that we will get back the part of J&K which is under the occupation of Pakistan. Who has stopped them? Have we ever said that do not get it back?” the chief minister said, winding up the discussion on motion of thanks to Lt Governor Manoj Sinha’s address in the Assembly here.
“During the Kargil war, there was an opportunity to get back PoK because it was Pakistan which attacked us. If you were so willing, you would have brought back that part but what stopped you? When you look at the map of Jammu and Kashmir, one part is also in China but you do not talk about it,” he said.
He said when the BJP-led central government brings back PoK, they should also bring that part of J-K which is presently in China and “we will be grateful to you”.
Countering the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in J-K Assembly and BJP leader Sunil Sharma for accusing the ruling party of insulting the Maharaja, he dared the opposition party to give him a single instance when the last Dogra ruler was insulted by NC or for that matter by the PDP and Congress.
“You have distorted the map of Maharaja by separating Ladakh from J&K and finishing his laws, especially related to land and jobs which were meant to provide safeguards to the people,” he said.
Abdullah said the BJP is justifying the separation by saying that it was the long-pending demand of the people of Ladakh.
“Have you asked them? Have you tried to find out? “From day one, the people of Kargil were against this decision. The Buddhists of Ladakh who distributed sweets are today of the opinion that they were better placed with J&K. They walked from Leh to Delhi to get back their rights,” he said.
He said Himachal Pradesh is better placed because one has to give 70 per cent of jobs to the local population if someone sets up an industry or a hotel in the hilly state.
“We have never harmed the legacy of Maharaja. Have we changed the name of any institution which was named in the name of the Dogra rulers?” he said.
