“Will meet the same fate as Gaza and Palestine…” Farooq Abdullah Warns of a similar fate for India without dialogue with Pakistan

National Conference MP Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday cautioned that India might face a situation similar to Gaza and Palestine unless a resolution is sought through dialogue with Pakistan. “If we do not find a solution through dialogue, we will meet the same fate as Gaza and Palestine, which are being bombed by Israel,” said the former J&K Chief Minister in an interview.

“Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said we can change our friends but not our neighbors…Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said war is not an option now and the matters should be resolved through dialogue,” said Abdullah, emphasizing the need for dialogue to come to amicable ends. "Where is the dialogue? Nawaz Sharif is about to become the PM (of Pakistan) and they are saying that we are ready to talk (with India), but what is the reason why we are not ready to talk? If we do not find a solution through dialogue, we will meet the same fate as Gaza and Palestine, which are being bombed by Israel,” he added.

Farooq Abdullah's remarks come at a time when Jammu and Kashmir have been marred by several incidents of violence, such as an ambush in Poonch that led to the death of five Indian Army soldiers, the killing of a retired police officer inside a Baramulla mosque, and the discovery of three civilians dead after being detained by troops for questioning.

The NCP leader previously took a jibe at the ruling BJP Government over their claims of restoration of “normalcy” in Jammu and Kashmir since the revocation of Article 370 in 2019. "Shouting normalcy or propagating tourist arrivals as peace will not finish terrorism. They were claiming that terrorism has finished with the abrogation of Article 370 (in 2019) but four years down the line, terrorism is still there and will not finish till we try to understand its root cause," said the Srinagar MP on Sunday. Launching a veiled attack on the BJP, he added, “Those who are claiming normalcy are silent... they tried to heal the wounds superficially rather than addressing the root cause. The commoners should understand that we are losing our soldiers, officers, and commoners.”

Expressing strong disapproval of the killing of the retired senior police officer in Baramullah, Abdullah stated that combating terrorism cannot be achieved solely through security force operations. He urged the central government to recognize that addressing terrorism requires alternative approaches beyond military operations.