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.”

He said, “I believe that you can give Kashmir independence but you cannot give Kashmir freedom under the circumstances that prevail within the subcontinent. Even if India and Pakistan were somehow to decide to give the state independence, it will never be really free.”

Abdullah said the Valley needed political handling and not economic reconstruction packages and confidence-building measures. Abdullah also said, “It needs political handling. It’s not good enough that you give a Rs 24,000 crore economic reconstruction package or you announce all sorts of confidence-building measures. It’s essentially about the political solution that you need to work out there.”

Backing the recent agreement between the J&K Government and Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti, he said, “The bottom line for me is that if you don’t agree with this agreement you might also turn around and say that you are against the yatra, because there is nothing in this (the agreement) that should give anybody a cause for concern.”