Early Times Report
JAMMU, Oct 7: BJP is no more a party with a difference. It is like any other political party and it can embrace anyone, hobnob with anyone and share power with anyone. It doesn't mind even admitting and fielding persons with highly doubtful credentials or whose track record is bad or anti-India. That it can admit and field anyone could be seen from the fact that it has given mandate to 48-year-old Mohd Farooq Khan to contest municipal polls from ward No. 33 of Tankipora in Srinagar.
Who is this Mohd Farooq Khan and what are his credentials? He himself has explained who he was. Speaking to media persons in BJP office itself, he has narrated his long journey from the days of receiving militant training inside a terror camp in Pakistan Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (POJK) to becoming a BJP candidate after a long struggle.
He said at the peak of militancy he "crossed the line of control and took up guns to fight Jihad". "In those days joining ranks of militancy was not a taboo. Even parents didn't object to the idea of picking up guns", Khan said.
He said: "While I was doing my graduation from SP College in Srinagar I crossed the line of control. In 1987 Assembly elections, when Mohd Yusuf Shah popularly known as Syed Salahuddin, Chief of Hizbul Mujahideen, was contesting polls, I was his polling agent. The polls were rigged and he was declared a loser".
"After I crossed Line of control I was taken to Mianwali area of Pakistan for training. Later I received training in camps set up in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Pok). I was taught how to operate automatic weapons, including the AK-47. When I returned, I operated under JKLF commanders. But I ran out of my luck on September 7, 1991, during a cordon and search operation in Munawarabad area where I was taken into custody. After I was arrested I was lodged in different places and I was sent to different interrogation centers that were infamous due to tortures perpetrated on militants or anyone held there. I spent some time in Papa I, Papa II and Hotel 4 in Shivpora. Security forces tortured me and gave me electric shocks," he said.
He added that he was "lodged in Kot Bhalwal central jail in Jammu for about six years and later I was sent to Tihar where I met Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant outfit". "In jail, I was also selected as the amir (leader) of my barrack. I spent quality time reading Islamic literature. Maulana Masood Azhar was my teacher. He even used to beat me when I would make mistakes while reading the Quran," he further said.
He also made a startling revelation. He claimed that "in 2013, I got an opportunity to meet Rajnath Singh and gifted him a Quran".
What all this should not surprise anyone. After all, it is not a secret that the BJP had entered into a pre-poll alliance with separatist-turned-political leader and author of 'Achievable Nationhood" Sajad Lone. Sajad Lone was a cabinet minister in the Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government out of the BJP quota. But more than that, the BJP shook hands with the pro-Pakistan and pro-self-rule PDP and shared power with it for almost three years. So, this is the "nationalist" BJP. No wonder the BJP has become an objective of contempt and ridicule. |
