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We are not asking for the moon: Abdullah

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

Taking a dig at those opposing the autonomy resolution passed by the state assembly, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah said, "I shall not burn in any hellfire because they burnt scores of my effigies in various major cities".

"We are not asking for sun or the moon. But are asking for our position to be restored," he said this morning.

He, however, hoped that "a through perusal of the autonomy report would clear apprehensions in the minds of people". "If they are not ready even to restore our eroded autonomy what else can they offer to the people of the state".

He said, "If the cult of the gun ends by ousting my government, I will not stay even for a second. The gun is controlled by Pakistan, which has been concentrating on Kashmir for the past 50 years, even abandoning its development and progress. Pakistan will not give up the gun."

Dr Abdullah said that the Kashmir problem couldn't be solved unless "we speak to Pakistan". "They have no roads, no economy, no infra-structure because they have invested everything in creating trouble in Kashmir".

"They may not get Kashmir by force, but they will continue to foment trouble. There cannot be permanent peace unless we hold talks with them," he said.

Dr Abdullah claimed the leaders of All Party Hurriyat Conference were already in touch with the Centre during their visits to Delhi and Bombay on the pretext of getting medical help.

"If the Centre cannot give me what I demand within the Indian Constitution, what do they promise the Hurriyat leaders, who stand for complete secession of the state?" he wondered.

Meanwhile, five passengers of a mini-bus were critically wounded in a powerful bomb explosion on the high-security Boulevard Road in the city this afternoon. Security forces guarding hotels in the area opened fire but no one was injured. The area was cordoned off.

Panic gripped tourists in Kashmir and those staying in house boats and hotels in the area.

Militants also fired seven grenades towards the heavily-guarded battalion headquarters of the Border Security Force at Karan Nagar in the city. However no one was hurt.

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