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Abdullah has doubts on
talks with Hurriyat: PTI

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah Friday said he was not averse to the Centre talking to Hurriyat leaders, but had his doubts whether anything tangible would come out of such deliberations.

Referring to allegations that he was trying to "put spokes" in the dialogue process between the Centre and Hurriyat Conference leaders, he told PTI that "talks with flexible minds can end in a result, but with them it would be just breaking heads."

On the Hurriyat delegation's proposed visit to Pakistan and meeting with militant leaders, he said, "They are free to go anywhere and most probably they would be now looking for a new line to be fed from across the border."

Contesting the claims of Hurriyat Conference leaders of being representatives of people of Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah said, "They represent only themselves."

Abdullah also said that the extension of the cease-fire was a second chance for Pakistan "mend its ways and stop the killing of innocent people in the state."

On his announcement of panchayat polls, scheduled for next month, which was termed by the Hurriyat and other opposition parties as a "political gimmick", he said, "I had promised the polls and I am doing it. Even if I had not announced the polls, I would have become a target."

Abdullah said his government was determined to go ahead with its manifesto of decentralising political power to the grassroots.

He dared Hurriyat leaders to face the elections. "I understand the language of the ballot and they shy away from this democratic exercise due to the fear of bullets from across the border."

"If the Hurriyat claims to be a representative of people of the state, let me ask them a simple question: how many minority people do they have in their decision-making body?"

He reiterated that the state police would go after militants if they target innocent people and asserted that his government would do everything to safeguard the lives of civilians.

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