Mufti responsible for failure of talks: Omar Abdullah

"Even if I or Farooq (Abdullah) sahab have lakhs of shortcomings, but never were Hurriyat leaders arrested to prevent them from meeting Pakistani leaders in the 12 years that we (Abdullah and me) ruled the state," he said.

Omar, the working president of National Conference (NC), was speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of a function to mark the 33rd death anniversary of his grandfather and party founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah at Hazratbal.

"Where has that Mufti gone, who used to say that this is the battle of ideas? Those people, with whom his thinking does not match, are arrested. You said in your agenda for alliance that you will facilitate dialogue between the Centre and the Hurriyat. When you did not permit Hurriyat to talk to Pakistan in Delhi, how would you let them talk to the Centre," Abdullah said.

"Now he (Sayeed) says that NSA talks should have been held. Jenab, if anyone sabotaged those talks, it is you (Sayeed) when you arrested these (Hurriyat) leaders," Omar said adding that when Sayeed did not allow Hurriyat leaders to talk to Pakistan High Commissioner in New Delhi, how would he facilitate their dialogue with the Centre as mentioned in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of BJP-PDP coalition.

“War threats are being issued from both India and Pakistan. And if war happens, poor Kashmiris will be killed on both sides of the border and nothing will change even after that,” he said.

He appealed both India and Pakistan to initiate the process of dialogue as “gun was not the solution to any issue”.

"The atmosphere which is being created is not a good thing. A threat after threat is given. Rather than creating a good atmosphere, they are talking of making the situation worse. The NSA talks did not happen. Now, the DGMO talks are in danger,” the former CM said.

(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)