Article 35A, 370 JK's 'foundation', must not be removed: Abdullah

Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah said that any decision to abrogate Articles 35A and 370 that accord special status to the state and its people must not be taken.

New Delhi: Senior National Conference (NC) MP Farooq Abdullah on Monday, termed Article 35A and Article 370 as the 'foundation' of Kashmir and asserted that the provisions should not be removed.

"Article 35A and Article 370 should not be removed. It forms our foundation. There is no need to remove it. We are Hindustani but they (Article 35A & Article 370) are important for us," Abdullah told reporters here.

Abdullah said he had sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold talks over these and other topics such as the deployment of additional troops in the Kashmir valley.

"On one hand you say peace has been restored in the valley, tourists are coming to the valley but on the other hand, they (centre) sent 1 lakh additional forces to the state, then why was it needed? We have demanded a meeting with Prime Minister as we want to meet him," Abdullah said.

He further added that he had been fighting for India's cause for quite some time and remarked that there was no BJP or Congress when he was fighting alone in 1996.

"In 1996, when I was alone fighting on India's side, nobody was there, neither BJP nor Congress. I stood alone with the tricolour in Kashmir," Abdullah said.

Talking about the elections in the state he said: "In this country, elections will be held every time in every state, the voting percentage doesn't matter. It is the right of every person to cast his vote. The same goes for Kashmir."

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