NEW DELHI: “At the moment, citizens of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir would rather be ruled by China than be a part of India,” says Farooq Abdullah  Former chief minister of Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK).

Abdullah is the most prominent ‘pro-India’ face in Jammu and Kashmir, who also heads the National Conference party.

In an interview to The Wire, he strongly refuted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s claim that the people of Kashmir have accepted the August 2019 changes to India’s territorial status just because there have been no protests.

Abdullah said that, “If the soldiers on every street and Section 144 are to be lifted, people will come out in their tens of lakhs.”

He added that, “New domicile law was intended to make the region a Hindu majority area, has further embittered the Kashmiri people.”