New Delhi: Reacting sharply to Pakistan hailing the recent Gupkar Declaration in which six political parties of Jammu and Kashmir vowed to fight collectively against the abrogation of Article 370, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Sunday asserted that 'we are not anyone's puppets'.
In a declaration issued on August 22, six prominent mainstream political parties came together for the restoration of Article 370 and statehood to Jammu and Kashmir after describing as 'unconstitutional' steps approved by Parliament last year to end the erstwhile state's special status and slice it into two union territories.
The joint statement is known as "Gupkar Declaration-2", being the second declaration on Article 370 issued after meetings held at the Gupkar Road residence of Abdullah which clearly asks the Centre that "there can be nothing about us without us", an indication that the Centre has to take into confidence the people before implementing any constitutional change.
"Pakistan has always abused mainstream political parties of Jammu and Kashmir but now suddenly they like us", the former chief minister said when asked about Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's statement that the declaration issued by the NC, PDP, Congress and three other parties was 'not an ordinary occurrence but an important development'.