Reacting to Opposition National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah’s recent comment on stone-throwers, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said his changed statements indicate that he is a “confused” man.

“Farooq Abdullah seems to be confused as he is making contradictory statements regarding stone-pelters. Earlier, he called the stone-throwers nationalists and now he says they are paid agents of the government,” Mehbooba told reporters in Jammu.

“In the 2010 unrest, the then NC-Congress coalition government had said that the PDP was supporting the stone-pelters. Then, the government had termed the stone-pelters criminals, drug-addicts and anti-nationals. Now, Farooq Abdullah terms the same stone-pelters nationalists, which indicates that somewhere he is confused,” she said.

Abdullah had called stone-pelters ‘nationalists’ during an election campaign rally in Srinagar on April 6.

“If he (the stone-pelting youth) is giving up his life, he is not doing it for the sake of tourism. He is giving his life so that the destiny of this nation can be acceptable to the people here,” he had said.