National Conference chief Omar Abdullah has ruled out independence or accession to Pakistan as a viable option for the people of Kashmir and held that an essentially political solution was the answer to the problems of the Valley. “I do not believe that independence for Kashmir is a feasible or a viable option and I stand by that,” he told Karan Thapar’s show ‘The Devil’s Advocate’.

Abdullah also said that India had lost a historic opportunity to resolve the Kashmir issue while Pervez Musharraf was at the helm of affairs. Abdullah told Thapar that the former Pakistani military ruler was a “single window system” and India flunked this opportunity. “We lost it. It’s gone. Musharraf was a single window system, so to speak, that we had to deal with in Pakistan. That window has gone. We flunked it. All of us, we all played a part in it....Well, we are living to rue it now. Had we worked out a solution with Pakistan in 2006-2007, we wouldn’t (have) seen Kashmir inflamed in 2008,” he said.

According to a press release, asked if he was prepared to voice his stand on the issue of independence in Srinagar, which recently witnessed protests with people shouting slogans for ‘azadi’, he said: “Be that as it may, it’s not my job to follow popular mood. It’s my job to tell the people what I believe is in their interest and I sincerely believe that this is not in their interest. It is not a viable alternative to suggest azadi or even accession to Pakistan.”

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