Farooq tries upping ante on Pak terror

Our Political Bureau

New Delhi, Dec 6: J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah has decried India’s tendency to look towards the US, rather than give a fitting reply to Pak-sponsored terrorism. “This is one problem we need to solve on our own,” Mr Abdullah said, speaking at the Ficci AGM here on Thursday.

“America doesn’t ask anybody to start bombarding 7,000 kilometers...may be 10,000 kilometers away, and we, in India, don’t move even one kilometer!” the chief minister argued. He complained how he made this pitch with then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, but to no avail. “Sir, let’s bomb them. Why else do we have these Mirages and MiG 29s? If your mother (Mrs Indira Gandhi) became Durga (after winning the 1971 War), you will become Shiva, I told him. Alas, his advisors torpedoed my suggestions”.

“The same happened during Kargil,” Mr Abdullah complained. “We needed to have banged their (terrorist) camps off! At least now, the time has come to think like the Americans”. In the same breath, Mr Abdullah also pitched for a conciliatory conversion of the present line of control, into the international border between India and Pakistan. “So what if there is a resolution of the Indian Parliament staking claim on the whole of J&K? I tell everybody, let’s be practical. Let’s buy peace,” he said.

Mr Abdullah went on to use the example of Israel, which has retaliated very strongly against the Palestenians, without waiting for US approval.

Asked to expand on his argument, Mr Abdullah told reporters on the AGM’s sidelines, that “the time has come that we do whatever needs to be done to solve the issue of cross-border terrorism”. Asked if the nuclear status of Pakistan leaves any scope to settle territorial issues by force, he said, “I repeat, we should do whatever needs to be done. Hot pursuit is one among a hundred options. Terrorists across the world should not find cover. Period”.

Mr Abdullah sought greater combativeness on part of government and Indian media in countering Pakistan sponsored propaganda that Muslims are being persecuted in Kashmir. He also sought greater activity by captains of Indian industry in far-flung areas of the country, even if that meant lower profits.