J-K Dy. CM condemns Farooq Abdullah's 'third party intervention' assertion

Condemning former chief minister Farooq Abdullah's statement that a third party can be approached to resolve the Kashmir issue, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh on Friday questioned his two-faced approach on the issue.

"I condemn his statement. He is talking about China. I want to tell him when he was the Chief Minister, he talked of attacking Pakistan. Why this two-faced approach? When he was in the government, he said something else and now something else," Singh told ANI.

"He should apologise for such a statement. He is trying to demoralise the security forces by making such statements. Farooq Abdullah wants to demean India in front of Pakistan," he added.

Earlier in the day, Abdullah said that India should approach third parties, such as the United States and China, to mediate in the Kashmir issue.

Adbullah said India has so many allies across the globe, which can be approached for settling the Kashmir issue to act as a mediator between India and Pakistan.

"For how long are you going to wait? Sometimes, you have to pull the bull by its horns. The way is to have a dialogue. India has so many friends all across the world. They can ask them to act as a mediator. U.S. President Trump himself said that he wants to settle Kashmir problem. China also said that it wants to mediate in Kashmir. Somebody has to be approached," Abdullah said.

However, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi refuted Abdullah's assertion and said, "I have been asserting for long that it's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies at the Centre that have destroyed Jammu and Kashmir. And the point that is being mentioned that a third party's intervention should be invited for the settlement of the issue, it's wrong. India is Kashmir and Kashmir is India."

"It's our internal matter and no other country should have any say in it," he added.