Unite against divisive forces: Farooq Abdullah asks people of J&K

Srinagar, Jun 19 (PTI) National Conference (NC)) president Farooq Abdullah Monday asked people in Jammu and Kashmir to unite against the divisive forces that are trying to “disenfranchise” them of their identity, land and resources.

“I see no way of achieving anything in J-K without a lasting unity between different sections of society. Unity in diversity must be our creed to last for all times and under all circumstances, otherwise there is no end in sight to our common problems in the shape of poverty, unemployment,” Abdullah said at a private function here.

The NC chief emphasised the value of preserving J-K’s unity in diversity.

“It becomes all the more important to preserve our culture, language and traditions in our families in wake of the attempts aimed at destroying them. I am sure that people will foil all such attempts by keeping the flame of unity and brotherhood alive.

“We have to stop seeing ourselves as Hindu-Muslim, Shia-Suni, Bareli-Deobandi. Unity in diversity must be our creed to last for all time and under all circumstances,” the Srinagar MP said.

Otherwise, Abdullah said there is no end in sight to “our common problems let alone restoration of our abridged constitutional and democratic rights”.

He said Jammu and Kashmir had survived numerous conspiracies and ploys to dilute its unique culture and history, and his party will never allow the “apologetic proxies of communal parties to divide people for their short-term, electoral and political gains”.