Farooq, Omar crumbling to Congress pressure: Mustafa Kamal
Thursday November 24, 2011 07:46:30 PM,
Sheikh Qayoom, IANS
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Srinagar: Mustafa
Kamal, the ousted chief spokesman of the National Conference, says
his nephew and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and
his elder brother and party patron Farooq Abdullah are succumbing
to pressure from ruling ally Congress.
"Something must have transpired at the highest level. Father and
son crumbled under pressure from the Congress when I was ousted as
the party chief spokesman," Kamal told IANS.
He said Farooq Abdullah, a minister in the Congress-led United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in Delhi, called him and
asked why he had said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was a nobody.
"I tried to explain that I had not said so, but my brother said
this was published everywhere and he had no option but to ask me
to step down from the post of party spokesman," Kamal claimed.
"Rahul Gandhi can speak on the role and functioning of the
coalition team, but he has no role in running the state
government," Kamal re-asserted.
Kamal also stood by his assertion that the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act (AFSPA) must be revoked.
"Now (union Home Minister P.) Chidambaram is trying to cover up on
behalf of the army, defence ministry and other quarters. There is
no justification for sending the issue to the law ministry," Kamal
said.
He was referring to the law ministry seeking an opinion from the
attorney general and saying that Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra was
not bound by the advice of the state government on AFSPA.
"AFSPA has done its role and there are other laws in the state
that can take care of the security situation," Kamal said.
Kamal said he was to be sworn as a minister in the National
Conference-Congress government led by Omar Abdullah which took
oath in January 2009.
"I was in the scheme of things as a cabinet minister. Even my
driver had been told to take a new official vehicle from the state
motor garages that would be used by me as a minister.
"Last minute manipulations by the Congress and even some vested
interests in the National Conference stepped in to scuttle the
move," Kamal said.
In hindsight though, Kamal feels he would have been highly
uncomfortable sitting alongside some ministers in the government.
"One of them was an employee in the health department and the
other is involved in a murderous attack on my brother Farooq
Abdullah. The case is still alive in north Kashmir Baramulla
district," he said.
Kamal categorically denied any ambition to carve out a place
within the National Conference for himself to challenge the power
of the chief minister and his father.
"My existence is the National Conference. I belong to party
founder, the late Sher-e-Kashmir, and we are all faithful soldiers
of the party. The party suffered when my brother-in-law, the late
G.M. Shah, parted ways with the National Conference in 1984. We
cannot afford another split in the party," he maintained.
Asked why he had been making statements that have been described
by Omar Abdullah as "highly embarrassing", Kamal said: "I am only
articulating the feelings of the common man.
"In fact, I am getting a lot of feedback from within the party and
the people. My ouster was completely uncalled for."
Coming back to AFSPA, he said, "I firmly believe if AFSPA is not
revoked as proposed by Omar Abdullah, Delhi would be the biggest
loser. The alienation of people would grow further in the Valley
where the Congress has no base of its own and the National
Conference stands to lose by the adamant attitude of New Delhi."
He has also accused the president of the state Congress, Saifuddin
Soz, of trying to create problems for the coalition government.
"Ours is a coalition of compulsion and convenience with the
Congress since the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Peoples
Democratic Party are the bigger enemies. But if the National
Conference leadership continues to succumb to the pressure tactics
of the Congress, it is only the National Conference that stands to
lose," he said.
(Sheikh Qayoom can be contacted at sheikh.abdul@ians.in)
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