NEW DELHI: Former chief minister of Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) FarooqAbdullah, in a passionate interview to an Indian publication, has said thatat the moment, citizens of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir would ratherbe ruled by China than be a part of India.
The most prominent ‘pro-India’ face in Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah, whoheads the National Conference party and had been for the past four decades,also described the plight of Kashmiris as slaves who were being treatedlike second-class citizens.
In a 44-minute interview to *The Wire*, he strongly refuted the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP)’s claim that the people of Kashmir have accepted theAugust 2019 changes to India’s territorial status just because there havebeen no protests.
“If the soldiers on every street and Section 144 are to be lifted, peoplewill come out in their tens of lakhs,” he said, adding that the newdomicile law was intended to make the region a Hindu majority area, which,he said, has further embittered the Kashmiri people
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When asked as to how Kashmiris view the BJP government and, in particular,Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, theminister said they were deeply disillusioned.