Army chief should not make political statements: Farooq

NEW DELHI - Union Minister for Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah Friday hit out at Army Chief General V.K. Singh for his criticism of the Omar Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir, saying the army chief should not make political statements.

“I think the army chief should never make statements. Army chief is there to keep silent and his job is to see that the army is alert and ready, he should not to make political statements and I am totally against any army chief or police chief making political statements. Political statements should come from politicians, who can answer in the assembly and who can answer in parliament,” Farooq told CNN-IBN.

He was responding to Gen Singh telling a news channel last week that the “Kashmir situation has been tense for quite some time and the reasons are many. The basic reason being that we have not been able to build on the gains that have been made.”

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister also dismissed as totally baseless the speculation that he was going back to the state as chief minister and that his son Omar would move to the centre in his place.

“(It) is totally wrong is totally baseless. I want to make it very clear through your channel that there is no such thing,” he said.

“The day I handed over this to him (Omar), I told him very clearly, it is him, the future rests in his hands and he must deliver to the people that I have not been able to deliver,” Farooq said.

The National Conference chief also admitted that he had not been able to deliver what he had promised to the people of the state and claimed that his son was making up for what he could not do.

When asked if he saw Omar capable of fulfilling the lapses he left uncovered, Farooq replied, “Yes, I am sure he will do that. I am sure.”