Will meet LG tomorrow, ask for date of forming government: NC President Farooq Abdullah

The formal letter of support has been submitted to the Lt Governor by the parties supporting the National Conference.

"The Lieutenant Governor is coming, we will ask him for time and tomorrow we will go with the letter of support letter and ask him for the date of forming the government. We have also got support from (AAP). We have to end hatred in order to move forward the governance," Abdullah said.

Asserting that people of J-K wants to live 'peacefully', Abdullah said that the government esteemed to formed has to eliminate the "propaganda" from their hearts of people of Jammu and voiced for the restoration of statehood of Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking to reporters, he said, "False propaganda was spread in Jammu that stone pelting, terrorism would start there, but they did not see that their lands were taken away, they do not have jobs, we have to eliminate that propaganda from their hearts. We want to live peacefully. We want the Centre to restore statehood here so that the government can work here. Jammu and Kashmir is the crown of the country, if the crown does not shine then how will the country shine. The central government needs to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir to run the dominion. How will we go forward then? It is necessary. Elections have been finished, now, it's time to work to eliminate poverty and develop the territory. We have no differences with the Congress. We cannot run this dominion alone; we all have to come together."

He also spoke on the ongoing tensions between Israel and Palestine and requested the Indian government to intervene in the matter to "end" this war.

On the Israel conflict, Abdullah said, "India was the biggest supporter of Palestine, the two-state formula. America should also understand this. America always wants that there should be a place for them so that they can have higher authority over the Middle East. Even if Israel did not exist, they would have established Israel. I would request them and the Indian government to talk to them and end these wars..."

Responding to a question related to restoration of bilateral ties with Pakistan, Abdullah said that its Centre's job to decide whether to initiate talks with Pakistan or not. However, he voiced for the reinitiating of the SAARC summits, stating that India should have good relations with all its neighbours.

He said, "It is not our job, it is the Centre's job (to decide whether to initiate talks with Pakistan or not). We want brotherhood. We should have good relations with all our neighbours. I hope the Indian government will restart SAARC so that we can live happily. We are the elder brothers of these countries."

The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) on Thursday unanimously elected Omar Abdullah as the leader of its Legislative Party.

National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah thanked the people of the union territory for giving the NC-Congress alliance the mandate to govern Jammu and Kashmir and highlighted the priorities of his party.

In Jammu and Kashmir National Conference-Congress alliance secured an absolute majority in the Union Territory by winning 49 seats, with the former taking 42 and the latter 6 seats.

This was the first election in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019 and the bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories. (ANI)