NEW DELHI: Farooq Abdullah, the president of India-held Kashmir’s National Conference (NC) party, said on Friday that India should turn to third parties, such as the United States and China, to mediate in the Kashmir dispute.

Advocating dialogue between Pakistan and India in the face of rising tensions along the Line of Control (LoC), Abdullah said that violence and warfare were not the solution to the 70-year-old dispute.

“For how long are you going to wait? Sometimes, you have to catch the bull by the horns. War means annihilation, as they [Pakistan] have atomic bombs, just like we do. The way [to resolve the issue] is through dialogue,” he said.

The former chief minister of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir state said India had many allies across the globe that could be approached to act as mediators to help settle the Kashmir issue. “Use your allies to initiate a dialogue and find a lasting solution. US President Donald Trump has said he wants to settle the Kashmir problem; we didn’t ask them to. China also said that it wants to mediate in Kashmir. Somebody has to be approached,” he said. Quoting former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s remark that “friends can be changed, but not neighbours”, the NC chief said that arrogance and stubbornness would not let any of the nations progress and develop.

Abdullah’s remarks did not go down well with the ruling BJP-PDP government in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Condemn his statement. When he was chief minister, he’d talked of attacking Pakistan. Why this two-faced approach?,” said J&K deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh.

Congress, which plays the role of opposition in the J&K Legislative Assembly along with the NC, assailed Abdullah’s remarks, with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi refuting outright the possibility of third-party intervention in the Kashmir conundrum.

“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,” Rahul said.

Leaping into the fray, NC leader Omar Abdullah defended his father’s statement. “My father isn’t a Congress party member and doesn’t need its permission or approval before he voices his opinion. It’s called free speech,” Omar said in a tweet posted in response to Rahul’s statement.

By arrangement with the Times of India

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2017