Low-cost stunt: Abdullah flays ex-RAW chief for Article 370 abrogation claims

The NC chief additionally refuted the ex-R&AW chief’s declare that he had determined to participate within the 1996 elections at Dulat’s insistence. As a substitute, Abdullah credited former US Ambassador to India Frank Wisner for the choice. “It was Frank Wisner, thank God he’s alive as we speak, who suggested me to contest,” Abdullah stated and recalled the ex-envoy’s metaphor of a “window” resulting in a “home”.

“He advised me, ‘Farooq, your persons are in nice issue… At this time you may have a window… and this window will develop into the door tomorrow. And after the door, a home will likely be constructed’,” Abdullah remembered.

Previous to the 2019 abrogation, Abdullah, his son Omar, after which Lok Sabha MP Hasnain Masoodi met with Prime Minister Modi, the place the NC chief sought a proof concerning the elevated troop presence in Kashmir. He claimed Modi supplied no response. “I had enquired with the prime minister concerning the giant motion of troops within the Kashmir valley, however he didn’t say something. If I used to be advised about it, I might have raised an alarm instantly after the assembly,” Abdullah stated.

The veteran politician stated he was unable to attend Parliament owing to the sudden clampdown following the abrogation. “I needed to climb my (home’s) wall to speak to the press that I had been detained. My son was stored away and detained in Hari Nivas.”

Abdullah expressed disappointment over Dulat’s assertions. “The worst is that he claims to be my buddy, and as has been stated, ‘Stab the physique and it heals, however injure the guts, and the wound lasts a lifetime’. I suppose his inaccuracies only for low cost publicity will final a lifetime now,” he added.

Edited PTI copy