Farooq Abdullah condemns attack on Qureshi, insists on talks

Union minister Farooq Abdullah today said the attack on separatist leader Fazal Haq Qureshi showed elements with negative approach were not interested in welfare of the people.

"The assassination bid on Qureshi proves that elements with negative approach have no interest in the welfare of the people. They want to fill the graveyard to keep their identity alive," he said.

The new and rewnewable energy minister, however, added the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was fast-changing and "the designs of negative elements will be scuttled".

He said talks were the only way to resolve the Kashmir issue, but added any solution should meet aspirations of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

Such a solution should also guarantee friendship between India and Pakistan, the head of the ruling National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, said.

Abdullah said the ongoing dialogue process was part of the exercise initiated by his father late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah during his visit to Pakistan in 1964.

The minister was speaking at the graveyard of Sheikh Abdullah, the first J&K chief minister, at Naseem Bagh on the outskirts of the city on his 104th birth anniversary.

Qureshi, a moderate face of the separatists, was shot at by militants of al Nasreen outfit outside a mosque here last evening in what is seen as an attempt to sabotage the talks.

Al Nasreen is believed to be a front of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.