‘Political vendetta’: National Conference on ED’s action against Farooq Abdullah

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Saturday said that the attachment of former chief minister Farooq Abdullah’s properties by Enforcement Directorate (ED) was “political vendetta” and an attempt to “silence the leadership and dissuade it from voicing support to political aspirations of the people”.

The ED on Saturday seized 2 houses, 3 plots and one property worth Rs 11.86 crore of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah in relation to JK cricket association fund scam. The ED has taken action under PMLA act.

 “The attachment of Abdullah’s properties by ED is political vendetta, meant to settle political scores,” senior party leaders, including two sitting MPs Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, said in a joint statement.

The leaders, who also included party general secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar and provincial presidents Nasir Aslam Wani and Devender Singh Rana and several former ministers, lambasted what they called “the series of attacks on the party leadership”.

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Calling EDs targeting of Farooq Abdullah, the leaders said such acts were nothing but unwarranted and unjustified.

“There is no evidence worth the name on record to justify the order of attachment of the property. These ancestral assets had been acquired decades back, and there is no justification why these should be attached,” the leaders said.

“It is nothing except political vendetta and an attempt to silence the leadership and dissuade it from voicing support to political aspirations of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh,” the NC leaders said.

“The list of properties includes two ancestral properties in which Farooq has a minor share. It reveals the desperation of the BJP which is using its agencies to settle political scores,” they said.

The sudden move against Farooq has been taken to divert attention from the ground that BJP seems to be losing in J&K,” the leaders said.

“It’s not a coincidence that the BJP ordered this action on the day the DDC polls ended because they know how badly they have fared and are now extracting their revenge in advance of the drubbing they will receive at the hands of people of J&K.” the leaders said in the statement.

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