Release separatists so that they can speak to Home Minister: Farooq Abdullah

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said on Friday that the NIA should release the separatist leaders so that they can tell Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh what they want during his forthcoming visit to the state.

Speaking to the media here on the sidelines of a function to remember his father and founder of National Conference, late Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah on his death anniversary, Abdullah alleged that the present National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe is being carried out only to "create turbulence" in Kashmir.

"I will consider these raids valid only if something substantial comes out. If it is just to scare them, then I would like to tell the government of India that no matter how much atrocities they commit, people in Kashmir will not sell their ideals," he said.

He said the separatists "must be released so that they can tell the Home Minister what they have to tell".

The NC president also said the NIA should probe the "money pumped into the state by the Government of India to weaken" the NC party.

He alleged that senior journalist Gauri Lankesh was killed because she wrote about how the RSS was weakening the country.

Late Sheikh Abdullah passed away on this day in 1982 and lakhs of weeping and wailing Kashmiris had participated in his funeral procession.

--IANS

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