Srinagar, May 04: People’s Conference President Sajad Lone on Saturday accused former chief minister and National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah of denying him security to participate in the last rites of his father who was assassinated in 2002.
Addressing the media persons here, Lone while attacking the National Conference said that on the second day after his father was assasinated, he was informed by Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Parvaiz Deewan, that there was a threat and he couldn’t attend the last rites of his father.
Sajad lamented that when he requested security to attend his father’s last rites, he was told by Deewan that the Chief Minister (Farooq Abdullah) had denied it. He accused the party of preventing a son from participating in his father’s funeral.
Lone also lashed out at NC Vice President and former chief minister Omar Abdullah, saying, “He is having nightmares of losing elections and is spreading rumours that Sajad Lone is part of the BJP. He challenged Omar to show any such remarks made by him and promised to apologise if proven wrong, demanding an apology otherwise.
The PC Chief claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has “rented” Muslim leaders in India. “The Abdullahs, the father and son, are also on rent by the BJP to escape from legal cases against them. These leaders are issuing statements which are helping BJP in the rest of the country to win elections.” He criticised the NC for labelling everyone, including separatists in jail for decades, as BJP supporters.
Responding to a question, Sajad denied challenging a “tourist” – referring to Omar Abdullah – saying that “there’s no reason to challenge someone who doesn’t belong there”.
Expressing his desire to address the real issues of common people in Kupwara, Baramulla, Budgam and Beerwah, Lone highlighted the problems faced by young people due to police verification. He acknowledged his political journey starting from scratch despite his father being a politician, saying he entered politics after his father was killed with “45 bullets”.
