Amidst a controversy created by hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani that the BJP sent emissaries from prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in March this year to seek “his commitment on Kashmir issue”, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday asked Geelani to identify the pointmen to establish who was “lying”.
“So SAS (Syed Ali Shah) Geelani has claimed that NaMo (Narendra Modi) sent emissaries to talk to him and other separatist leaders in Delhi, in SASG’s case twice,” Omar wrote on microblogging site, Twitter.
“So who is lying, SAS Geelani or the NaMo campaign? Easy way to find out — let SASG identify the emissaries who met him on behalf of NaMo,” he said.
Geelani had on Friday claimed that two Kashmiri Pandits had called on him in Delhi, asking him to engage in a dialogue with Modi. He had also claimed the duo had said they had approached him as Modi’s emissaries.
Omar wanted to know who the emissaries were and what offer they made as the BJP’s position on Article 370 of the Constitution, which guarantees special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), was known.
“Given BJP’s position on Art 370 and AFSPA, can we know who these NaMo emissaries were and what was on offer? Why the secrecy?” he wrote.
Meanwhile, the BJP has denied that Modi had sent emissaries to meet Geelani to create a “soft corner” by making a commitment to seek a solution to the Kashmir issue. Rejecting the claims as “mischievous” and without any basis, the party said in a statement in New Delhi that no emissary has either tried to meet or had met Geelani to discuss the Kashmir issue.
The statement said, the BJP’s stand that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India was very clear and there was no room for deliberations on this.
The party had time and again condemned the negative role played by leaders such as Geelani “whose politics is a threat to the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir”, the statement said.