Farooq Abdullah attacks Chandra Prakash Ganga over remarks on 'stone-pelters'

Abdullah said Ganga's remark was not isolated utterances, but pointed towards a 'deeper prejudice patronised and institutionalised' by the PDP-BJP alliance.

“Remarks of Chandra Prakash Ganga were not isolated utterances but pointed towards a deeper prejudice and malice that has not only been politically patronized but also systemically institutionalized by the PDP-BJP alliance,” Farooq said in a statement issued here in Srinagar on Friday.

Condemning the recent spate of excesses against protesting students in the Valley, Farooq said the anti-youth posturing and policies of the Mehbooba Mufti Government has brought the state to the precipice of turmoil and unrest.

“PDP has always tried to slip out of such situations by deflecting blame and engaging in pre-scripted, controlled and choreographed ‘confrontations’ with the BJP while simultaneously remaining in an alliance with them at all costs,” Farooq Abdullah added.

“You cannot stereotype Kashmiris and define them within the narrow contours of a regressive ‘nationalism versus anti-national’ narrative the political problem in Kashmir is far too complex for such broad stroke definitions and merits an open-ended, well-intentioned political engagement with all stakeholders including the leadership of the Hurriyat Conference,” Farooq Abdullah said.

Triggering controversy, Ganga earlier was quoted as saying in a video that youth throwing stones in Kashmir should be dealt with bullets.

He is a minister in the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir.

"There is only one remedy for them and that is bullets," he was quoted as saying by the media.

Meanwhile, he has express his regret over the remark, reports said.