National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday defended stone pelters in Jammu and Kashmir, saying they were “sacrificing lives” to end the turmoil in the state. “They pelt stones for the sake of nation,” he said while addressing party workers at his Srinagar residence ahead of the Lok Sabha by-polls in the district, PTI reported.

Abdullah also took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement from the Chenani-Nashri tunnel road inauguration, when he asked Kashmiri youth to make a choice – “tourism or terrorism”, “pelting stones or cutting stones” – using the project as a metaphor for how development could transcend militancy in the state.

The former Union minister asserted the youth choosing to throw stones had nothing to do with tourism. “They are not sacrificing lives for tourism,” he said, adding that the by-elections were not a contest between the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party, but between the Bharatiya Janata party’s “cultural and tyrannical onslaught on one end and Kashmiris’ collective honour and prestige on the other’’.

Abdullah is contesting from the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency as a candidate for the NC-Congress alliance in Jammu and Kashmir. The by-poll for this seat will be held on April 9 and for the Anantnag constituency on April 13.