Srinagar: At a time when the deadly terror incident near Red Fort and an explosion at a police station in Jammu & Kashmir have shaken up India, less than seven months after the Pahalgam massacre, veteran politician Farooq Abdullah triggered a controversy on Saturday.
The National Conference leader and former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister said that an Operation Sindoor-like action should not be carried out as it did not yield any positive outcome and only resulted in loss of lives.
“I hope no such thing (Operation Sindoor) will happen. Nothing came out of it. Eighteen of our people died… Our borders were compromised,” Abdullah told ANI, adding that repeating such operations will harm both nations and the fragile peace along the Line of Control.
“I hope both nations improve their relations. That is the only way,” he said, making the that hostility and military posturing cannot serve long-term national interests.
The octogenarian invoked former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s famous saying on India-Pakistan ties.
“I want to repeat what Vajpayee Ji had said — ‘friends can be changed, but neighbours cannot’,” Abdullah said, urging New Delhi and Islamabad to resume dialogue and work towards lasting peace.
Abdullah’s comments came hours after 9 people were killed when explosives, recovered from a doctor in Faridabad, went off inside a police station in Nowgam, near Srinagar.
Seeking a thorough and independent investigation into the Nowgam explosion, Abdullah said that “mistakes” in the handling of the explosives may have resulted in the terrible tragedy.
India’s Armed forces destroyed nine selected terror hubs in Pakistan and PoK with precise missile strikes in the early hours of May 7 as part of Operation Sindoor to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 innocent men.
With the Central government acknowledging the Red Fort blast as another terror attack, and a link allegedly being found with Jaish-e Mohammed, there is speculation over whether another big ‘operation’ will be carried out by India. Especially after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that none of the perpetrators and handlers of the Red Fort blast will be spared.
