Parties spinning his 'third-party' statement: Omar comes in Farooq Abdullah's defence

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah's son Omar Abdullah has come in defence of his father and has said that parties and politicians commenting on or condemning on his so-called "third-party intervention" assertion are giving a different spin to his statement.

"Talk about spinning a statement. Dr Abdullah has said friends can be used to facilitate a dialogue with Pakistan, to facilitate a solution. Dr Abdullah didn't call for mediation he said "Trump offered to help & CHINA OFFERED to mediate". How is that the same as him asking for it? There is a difference between facilitation & mediation," Omar said, in a series of tweets.

"India has used Int. facilitation-during Kargil war, after Parliament attack Etc. BJP's ally @jkpdp has welcomed Dr Abdullah's statement. I guess that makes the BJPDP anti-national as well. This is what I mean - twist remarks out of shape so that the original intent & message is completely distorted," he added.

He further quoted an ANI article - Rahul refutes Farooq Abdullah's assertion on third party intervention to resolve Kashmir issue - and wrote, "My father isn't a Congress party member & doesn't need it's permission or approval before he voices his opinion. It's called free speech."

Earlier in the day, Farooq Abdullah said that India should approach third parties, such as the United States and China, to mediate in the Kashmir issue.

Adbullah said India has so many allies across the globe, which can be approached for settling the Kashmir issue to act as a mediator between India and Pakistan.

"For how long are you going to wait? Sometimes, you have to pull the bull by its horns. The way is to have a dialogue. India has so many friends all across the world. They can ask them to act as a mediator. U.S. President Trump himself said that he wants to settle Kashmir problem. China also said that it wants to mediate in Kashmir. Somebody has to be approached," Abdullah said.

Reacting to this, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said, "I have been asserting for long that it's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies at the Centre that have destroyed Jammu and Kashmir. And the point that is being mentioned that a third party's intervention should be invited for the settlement of the issue, it's wrong. India is Kashmir and Kashmir is India."

"It's our internal matter and no other country should have any say in it," he added.

-ANI