“What Pakistan has to do with us?”: Omar Abdullah over Pak minister’s Article 370 rant

Budgam: Following the remarks of Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Article 370, National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that Pakistan should manage its affairs and not interfere in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls.

“What does Pakistan have to do with us? We are not even a part of Pakistan, let them take care of their country. I don’t think they should interfere in our elections or comment on our elections. They should save their democracy, we are participating in ours,” Omar Abdullah told reporters.

Earlier today, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah said that he does not know what Pakistan says. Speaking to ANI, he said, “I don’t know what Pakistan says. I am not a Pakistani; I am an Indian citizen.”

The remarks of the National Conference come after Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif’s statement in an interview in which he said that Pakistan and the NC-Congress alliance were on the same page on the restoration of Article 370.

Earlier speaking on Geo News to senior journalist Hamid Mir in a show Capital Talk, the Pakistan Defence Minister was asked whether Pakistan and the National Conference-Congress alliance are on the same page regarding the restoration of Article 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir.

Khwaja Asif replied, “Absolutely. Even our demand is also the same…”The Pakistan Minister also claimed that Article 370 could return should the NC-Congress alliance come to power in J-K.

“I think it is possible. Currently, the National Conference and Congress have very big importance over there. The population of the valley has been motivated a lot on this issue and I believe, there is a chance that the Conference (National Conference) will come to power. They have made this an election issue that the status of Jammu and Kashmir should be restored,” Asif told Geo News.