Srinagar, Aug 27 (PTI) National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Friday expressed hope that militancy will get over soon in Kashmir and asked people to keep faith.

“We will get over insurgency soon. Keep faith. We have to survive and we make our nation survive,” he said at the closing ceremony of Greentech Foundation's two-day meet on Safety and Energy at Sonamarg tourist resort in central Kashmir's Ganderbal district.

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On people afraid of travelling to Jammu and Kashmir due to militancy, Abdullah said, “Yamraj (God of death) is everywhere”.

“Though J-K is ‘paradise on earth', still people have fear in travelling to this region. Due to the violence and insurgency, they are not sure whether they will go back alive or not. But, I am happy you (visitors) have come, you made it a point to come here. When you go back tell your friends what you have witnessed here,” he said.

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Abdullah, the Member of Parliament from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, said he would like to see a new India, the India that stands for all.

“God is neither in temple nor in mosque. The God, the Allah, is in every one of us. It is an earnest desire for all of us to live together and progress together. We made a nation that stands for all,” he said.

The NC leader said COVID-19 crippled mighty nations like USA, but India fared well despite widespread poverty.

“Our scientific and medical community made our country proud,” he said.

Abdullah also said constructing tunnels in places like Sonamarg will pave way for people to travel to such regions even in winters and also open up another dimension to winter sports.

“We are constructing some major tunnels in Jammu & Kashmir. A section of it is going to be open this winter. This will pave a way for people to travel to region even in the winters, which otherwise was difficult so far.

“These tunnels also open up another dimension to winter sports. This may help us improve our medals tally in Olympics. Many smaller nations won more medals than us. We need tunnels. They are important not just for enabling travel in winter, but for strategical reasons for our army as well,” he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)