The anguish of Article 370’s abrogation has yet to subside, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has rattled the Gupkar gang by advocating for reclaiming Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Behaving like a true loyalist of Pakistan Farooq Abdullah, the J&K National Conference supremo said on the 5th of May, that “Pakistan is not wearing bangles” and “has atom bombs”.
“If the defence minister is saying it then go ahead. Who are we to stop? But remember, they (Pakistan) are also not wearing bangles. It has atom bombs, and unfortunately, that atom bomb will fall on us,” Farooq Abdullah said during a media interaction on Sunday.
#WATCH | Srinagar, J&K: On Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's statement that 'PoK will be merged with India', JKNC Chief Farooq Abdullah says, "If the defence minister is saying it then go ahead. Who are we to stop. But remember, they (Pakistan) are also not wearing bangles. It has… pic.twitter.com/hYcGnwVxP2
— ANI (@ANI) May 5, 2024
The Gupkar gang member’s statement came after Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in an interview with PTI said that India will continue to assert its legitimate claim on PoK, however, he emphasised that India will not have to use force and the occupied region will eventually choose to merge with India seeing unprecedented development in Jammu and Kashmir and return of peace in the region.
“I think India will not have to do anything. The way the ground situation has changed in Jammu and Kashmir, the way the region is witnessing economic progress and the way peace has returned there, I think demands will emerge from people of PoK that they should merge with India,” Singh said.
Interestingly, this is not the first time that Farooq Abdullah has batted for Pakistan. Abdullah has time and again emphasised that the Modi government should resume ‘talks’ with Pakistan to resolve disputes and ensure peace in J&K. In his bid to make Pakistan relevant against the so-called ‘Kashmir cause’, Abdullah in December last year claimed that Kashmir would become Gaza if the Indian government didn’t resume talks with Pakistan even as the Modi government has made it clear that it will not hold any talks with Pakistan unless the country stops cross border terrorism against India.
“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,” Farooq Abdullah said.
Amusingly, Abdullah had once batted even for China saying that Kashmiris would prefer to be ruled by China than India adding that the people of Kashmir “do not feel or want to be Indian”.
Gupkar gang’s pro-Pakistan advocacy
It is worth noting that Farooq Abdullah is the chairman of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), also known as the Gupkar Gang. It was established to reinstate Article 370, in Jammu and Kashmir. In October 2020, six parties formed the Gupkar Gang to reinstate Articles 370 and 35A and Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood. The National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Conference (PC), Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M), Peoples Movement (PM), and Awami National Conference (ANC) were the first to ally. Congress joined the gang in November 2020. Notably, although Pakistan’s opinion on India’s internal issues doesn’t matter, the country has vehemently opposed the abrogation of J&K’s special status.
In 2019, JKNC leader Omar Abdullah said that not the terrorists and Pakistan but those intending to repeal the special status of Jammu and Kashmir are a threat to the region. “J-K does not face as much threat from a neighbouring country or the muzzle of gun as it faces from the forces who are hell-bent on destroying the special status of the state,” he said.
Alongside Abdullah, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti also has been batting for Pakistan and inciting violence in Kashmir over the years. Back in 2019, Mufti had threatened that if the BJP repealed Articles 35A and 370 as promised in its poll manifesto, the whole country would burn along with J&K. The Gupkar gang allies act as the first line of defence for Pakistan. When any Indian politician makes any comments about Pakistan’s state-sponsored terrorism or their nuclear bomb threats, the Gupkar gang ‘leaders’ respond even before Pakistan does.
Back in April 2019, PM Modi took a swipe at Pakistan’s nuclear threat saying “we also have nuclear bombs and we have not kept them for Diwali.” Mehboob Mufti was quick to say that even Pakistan has not kept its nuclear bomb for Eid. “Jo Pakistan ke pass honge, vo bhi Eid ke liye nahi rakhe honge. Ye hissab baraabar hota hai”, Mufti said.
Mehbooba Mufti, PDP on PM Modi's remark, 'Every other day they (Pakistan) used to say "We've nuclear button, we've nuclear button"…..What do we have then? Have we kept it for Diwali?': Jo Pakistan ke pass honge, vo bhi Eid ke liye nahi rakhe honge. Yeh hisaab baraabar hota hai. pic.twitter.com/disWzMy8f3
— ANI (@ANI) April 22, 2019
Alongside openly playing for Pakistan, a perpetual adversary to India, Mehbooba Mufti also defends those cheering for Pakistan. In the year 2021, Mufti penned a letter to PM Modi to intervene in the matter of the arrests of three Kashmiri students in Agra for celebrating the win of the Pakistan cricket team against India in the T20 World Cup. She wrote that the “sense of patriotism cannot be forced on people”.
Gupkar gang leader’s batting for Pakistan despite the country being notorious for funding and shielding terrorists on its soil is not surprising given these people have backed the Islamist terrorist group Taliban in Afghanistan. After the Taliban formed an interim government in 2021 following a violent takeover of the country, Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti batted for the Jihadi regime in Afghanistan and ‘hoped’ the Talibs would be able to ‘change the perspective of the world’ towards them.
Pakistan in perpetual “humare pass bomb hai” mode
Pakistan, the self-proclaimed Riyasat-e-Medina has a track record of giving nuclear threats to India. Back in 2022, Pakistani minister Shazia Marri had ‘reminded’ India that its hostile neighbour has nuclear bombs after India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar slammed Pakistan at the UN for its terrorism. “Our nuclear status is not meant to remain silent. We will not back down if the need arises,” she said.
In February last year, Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif had claimed that India would not be able to cast an evil eye on his nuclear-armed country, which has the “power to pullout the enemy’s evil eye and crush it under its feet.” The Pakistan PM also raked up the Kashmir issue again by underlining the need of gaining economic and political stability “to get freedom for the Kashmiris.” The Pakistani PM’s provocative statement came at a time when his country was facing the worst economic crisis.
By threatening that Pakistan has atom bombs and it would nuke India if it ‘dares’ to reclaim PoK, the Gupkar gang is exposing its own secessionist colours. With the removal of Article 370, these politicians have been desperately trying to regain their lost relevance. In their bid to become relevant again in Kashmiri politics they want to bring Pakistan back into the context to keep the sinister ‘Azadi’ agenda alive and to thrive by reigniting the conflict.
