Farooq Questions Centre's Silence on Situation in PoJK

National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday questioned the "silence" of the central government over the situation in Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).

The NC president said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar should raise the issue.

"Since they keep saying so much that it (PoJK) is our part, so if it is your part, then why don't you talk about it?" Abdullah said.

"I have spoken about this many times. I have appealed that the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) should go there and see what their difficulties are. They should try to address those difficulties," Abdullah told reporters here.

The former Union minister said he has not heard of any statement from the Centre calling for an end to the violence in PoJK.

"Why don't they say whatever is happening there should stop? I haven't heard anywhere. I don't know if you have heard it or not. I have not heard any statement from them on it," he said, adding if PoJK is part of India, "why don't they talk about it? They are not talking".

On Tuesday, at least 14 activists of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) were killed and more than two dozen injured in clashes with law-enforcement personnel during the first phase of elections for the so-called legislative assembly in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

India had described the elections as an attempt by Pakistan to camouflage its illegal occupation and hide its "grave" human rights violations in the region.