Srinagar, June 30: Urging leaders of all political parties to unite for a solution to the Kashmir issue, National Conference president Omar Abdullah today blamed the Centre and state leadership and separatists for the continuing imbroglio. "Government of India is not going to give up its claim on any territory that it already possesses. Not because there is no love lost for people of Jammu and Kashmir. We have sold Tibet and the 50 year foreign policy by withdrawing support to Palestinian people for economic gains," he said at a panel discussion organised by Kolkata-based Centre for Peace and Progress.
"They (Centre) would have sold us but India cannot survive another partition and it will not be able to project itself as the great secular nation," Abdullah, who was part of the union council of ministers till his party's debacle in last year's assembly elections, said. He criticised Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's statement during his visit to Kashmir recently in which he said only last year's polls were free and fair. "If that be the case, what about the elections that took place before that? What about the legislature that ratified the accession to India," he questioned.
The NC president, who continues to support the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre from outside, said the union government had sought third party intervention against the stated position.
"Officially it is a no-no for third party mediation but Deputy Prime Minister goes to Washington and seeks US help to get Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to stop infiltration,” he added. Bureau Report