Former Union finance minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha on Friday said he spoke to NC president Farooq Abdullah who is being detained under PSA after the revocation of Article 370.
Sinha said he spoke to Abdullah on phone and added that the latter was in high spirits. “We will now request the authorities for a meeting with him,” Sinha said after meeting members of traders and chamber of commerce at a hotel at Srinagar.
Sinha, Wajahat Habibullah, Bharat Bhushan, Sushobha Barve and Kapil Kak reached Srinagar on Friday morning. The BJP leader was sent back from Srinagar airport in September.
He said he told Abdullah if meeting with him didn’t materialise, they will wave at him from the outside of his residence .
The former minister said he also spoke to CPI (M) leader M.Y. Tarigami and would try to speak with Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.
also read
About Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement in the Parliament that not a single bullet has been fired in Kashmir since August 5, the former minister said the credit for peace in Kashmir goes to the people of Kashmir and not the government or the security forces.
He rejected Shah’s claim that the situation in Kashmir was normal and said the situation is far from normal as all the shops are closed. “How can you say this is normalcy?’’ he asked.
Sinha said they will try to speak with more people before concluding their visit on November 25.
This is for the first time that a group from Delhi has been allowed to interact with the people in Kashmir.
The arrival of the group in Kashmir has come in the wake of discussions on Kashmir in the Parliament where the opposition demanded the release of Abdullah who is NC’s MP from Srinagar.
