Ishfaq-ul-Hassan 
 
Srinagar: A family secret kept under wraps for more than 60 years has finally been made public by its heir apparent and National Conference (NC) president Omar Abdullah.

Omar, in his newly-launched blog, has bared his heart out about his family and disclosed that his uncle, whom he did not name, had disagreed with what had happened in 1947. He said the uncle refused to carry an Indian passport or travel by Indian Airlines.

“I have an uncle who more often than not I disagree with but I admire the conviction he has - he disagrees with what happened in 1947 and subsequent events and so refuses to carry a passport,” Omar says.

“He has never applied for one. For the longest time he never left the state and only travelled by road between Jammu and Srinagar because he refused to travel on ‘Indian’ Airlines,” Omar adds.

NC president, however, defended his grandfather late Sheikh Mohammad’s decision for accession with India. “Some will argue that his decision in 1947 was wrong - looking at the present state of Pakistan and the side of Kashmir with it, I can’t see how they can justify that argument. Was independence an option? Sure let’s ask the Tibetans about how it is to survive as an independent country with China, India and Pakistan for neighbours”, he said.

Omar also defends his late grandfather known as Sher-e-Kashmir for signing an accord in 1975 with Indira Gandhi, which he said was to “get the best that he could for people” under those circumstances.

“Some will argue that this was a betrayal and they would not be completely wrong in as much as he settled without getting what he set out to get but look at the circumstances that prevailed at the time. Pakistan had not only lost a war but it had been dismembered, the Simla Agreement had been signed that promised to resolve the Kashmir issue and Indira Gandhi was being compared to Goddess Durga,” he said.

Omar also confesses to be “hypocrite” for drawing salary from ‘parliament of India” and still “criticising India for the excesses in the state. “So be it. I’ll live with being a hypocrite because it’s better than living as a mute spectator. I live with it because I am equally critical of the excesses of the militants,” he notes.

“The Indian security forces are guilty of some of the most horrible excesses. I don’t condone what was done and am a firm believer that the truth must emerge and the guilty must be punished,” he added.

Source : DNAIndia