Mehbooba Mufti Should Step Down as CM: Farooq Abdullah

Jammu: Accusing Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti of failing to control the situation in Kashmir, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday demanded that she should resign from her post.

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister also asserted that borders between India and Pakistan cannot be redrawn.

Noting that dialogue is the only solution, he said India should take initiative in this regard as it is a strong country.

"We have to leave animosity and the only solution is that the part of Kashmir which is with India will remain with India and that with Pakistan will remain with them," he said addressing party's women workers.

"I am very sorry that this lady (chief minister) is not effectively running the state and it is better that she steps down," Farooq later told reporters on the sidelines of a party function on Tuesday.

Farooq's son Omar Abdullah also hit out at Mehbooba alleging that she had ceded all powers to hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

"Since @MehboobaMufti has ceded all power to S A S Geelani, may be its time to ask him to order the resumption of mobile internet services," Omar wrote on twitter.

The former chief minister was referring to the meeting at Geelani's Hyderpora residence where separatist leaders and other "stakeholders" are meeting to chalk out future course of action on the ongoing agitation in Kashmir.

"Business barons who wouldn't touch any official government meeting with a barge pole have flown in from Jammu & Delhi to be in Hyderpora," Omar claimed.

Farooq raised the issue of burning of schools. "She says, I will give the names. Where are those names, we would like to know who are the ones who are burning these schools.

"Who is going to construct them again? Prime Minister has given a thousands of crores, they will also be burnt down," he said.

Farooq alleged that the chief minister has taken no measure to improve the situation in the Valley which was "extemely bad" and voiced hope that "New Delhi will wake up".

"She has completely failed, the situation in the Valley is extremely bad and I hope in Delhi they will wake up and start thinking of how do we get the Valley back to normal and it is very important because schools are being burnt, there is a definite scheme under which it is being done," he said.

On a question regarding the ongoing shelling and firing on the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC), the NC leader said that the only solution to the dispute was for India and Pakistan to hold dialogue.

"In my opinion the ongoing spell of killings will not lead to any solution. Borderlines will remain as they are.

"The situation is that innocents are being killed here and on the other side of the border as well. The only solution... is that the Prime Minister should immediately hold talks with Pakistan," Farooq said.

He said India should hold talks as being a powerful country, it was India's responsibility to initiate peace process.

Farooq also said the elected government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the army in Pakistan were at loggerheads which was a major cause of the current problem.

"Nawaz Sharif is one ruler and the second is the army.

They have a conflict between them. It is because of this that the problem arises but we have to find a way out because there is no way out except peace," he said.

He said that a war between the two nations would lead to destruction and whatever the two countries have achieved in the past 70 years would be destroyed in seconds.

"War is not the solution. The solution is that we have to find a way for dialogue," he said.

While expressing his anguish over the closure of schools for the past four months, he said the children from the Valley will suffer and won't be able to compete with other children in the country.

Farooq said that the state has suffered losses to the tune of over Rs 10,000 crore in the past four months.

He also accused the ruling coalition of dividing people of the state on religious lines.

Kashmir has been hit by unrest since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8.