Farooq Abdullah at the all-party condolence meeting organised for former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. ... Read More

SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah was forced to beat a hasty retreat before completing the special Eid namaz at Hazratbal dargah on Wednesday morning when Kashmiris heckled him for raising slogans like 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Jai Hind' at an event in Delhi.

A video of Farooq raising the two slogans at an all-party meeting organised in Delhi on Monday to pay tributes to Atal Bihari Vajpayee has gone viral in the Valley. The drama at Hazratbal erupted soon after Farooq, surrounded by special security group (SSG) jawans, entered the shrine. Agitated namazis protested the moment Farooq stood in the front row just before the Imam was about to start the special Eid prayers.

The devotees wanted the organisers at the dargah to “throw Farooq out”. Pro-azadi chants and slogans hailing Zakir Musa, the founder of terrorist organisation Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, were raised by youths who waved their footwear at Farooq as a protest.

The head priest of the dargah tried to pacify the namazis by raising Islamic slogans. However, the crowd refused to relent and the former CM was forced to leave the shrine in a huff without completing the namaz, eyewitnesses said.

Later, calling the protesters “stupid”, Farooq said, “I will not be cowed down by such acts. They are not God. They can't kill me.”

He said he was targeted “not only for chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai but also for saying Jai Hind”. Tension was palpable in mosques across the Valley in the wake of the appeal by separatist leaders that the Imams “must educate the devotees about the lurking dangers of abrogation of Article 35(A) of the Constitution of India”.

