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| Maqbool Bhat had Dr Farooq to vouch for him | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Feb 15: The car came to a screeching halt near the erstwhile Broadway cinema. Farooq Abdullah was furious and gave two of his colleagues on the rare seat a scornful look. “Tell these bastards to get down. They have insulted a patriot”, Farooq told his colleague who gave him company on the front seat.
It was 1975. The political firmament of Jammu Kashmir had changed. National Conference had been revived and people were desperate to join it. Farooq Abdullah was taking Waheed Raina and Sharief-ud-Din to Ghulam Rasool Kochak’s residence. Noted columnist and former bureaucrat, Zahid Muhammad accompanied them.
Kochak, Waheed and Sharief-ud-Din had joined Satantara Party and were desperate to come back to National Conference which they had deserted. Farooq had promised to drive them to National Conference office.
During the journey, Wahid and Sharif-ud-Din discussed Maqbool Bhat as Farooq Abdullah and Zahid listened keenly. One of them said Maqbool was a double agent and not a real freedom fighter. This angered Farooq so much that he humiliated the persons whom he had promised rehabilitation in National Conference. He lost his cool and even called them “bastards”.
Farooq Abdullah, Zahid said, had high regard for Maqbool Bhat. According to noted historian, Shabnam Qayoom Farooq Abdullah retu7rned from Pakistan administered Kashmir in July 1974 along with his friends. They addressed a gathering at Lal Chowk on July 7 and threatened militant struggle incase the dialogue with Plebiscite Front and New Delhi failed to yield the `desired results’.
However, Mirza Afzal beg in his address urged the gathering not to take Farooq and his friends from Mirpur seriously.” They are a sentimental lot”, he said.
During his Pakistan visit, Dr Farooq met Maqbool Bhat and agreed with him in principle to work for `liberation of Kashmir.’ JKLF people say with authority that Farooq joined JKLF during that visit to Pakistan.
Farooq Abdullah has repeatedly spoken against Pakistan and Pakistan administered Kashmir. He has ridiculed almost all the separatists but he has never spoken against Maqbool Bhat.
(Zahid narrated the episode during a book release here Sunday.)
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