Kashmir's stone pelters fighting for nation, have nothing to do with tourism: Farooq Abdullah

National Conference (NC) president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said that those who pelt stones are just fighting for the nation and have nothing to do with tourism.

"Our fight is against those people who want to divide us on the basis of religion. I want to tell Modi saheb that tourism is our life no doubt about that, but a stone pelter has nothing to do with tourism. They (stone pelters) will risk starvation, but will throw stones for the nation that's what we need to understand," Farooq Abdullah told the party workers here.

He further said if India and Pakistan cannot resolve their issues, then America should come forward and facilitate as third party to resolve issues between the two countries.

The NC president said it is not a fight between parties like PDP and NC, it is a fight to defeat communal forces and to protect secularism.

Modi, who was on a brief visit here to inaugurate the country's longest road tunnel between Kashmir and Jammu, used the occasion to tell the stone-pelters of the valley that stones can be used for better purposes -- building infrastructure.

Addressing a rally in Udhampur, he told the Kashmiri youth that if they ignore the "invaluable tradition of sufi culture", they would "lose the present and put your future into darkness". In a veiled manner, the Prime Minister also hit out at the rulers of Pakistan who are eyeing Kashmir, saying "they can't even take care of themselves".