“I have tried to stay away from resorting to this kind of populism”, he said from the ramparts of the Red Fort. What kind of people glorify terrorists? Basit celebrated Pakistan’s Independence Day at its embassy in the Indian capital. “The world will know about it and that’s sufficient for me”. Congress party believes there are serious human rights violations in Balochistan and the voice of democratic dissent is being suppressed by Pakistani forces and agencies.
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“People of Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK have thanked me a lot in past few days, I am grateful to them”, he said in New Delhi on the occasion of India’s 70th Independence Day.
The Prime Minister said the price of energy-efficient LED bulbs has been brought down to Rs 50 from Rs 350 earlier and the government is working to complete stalled or long pending projects as well as shortening the time required for project approvals in important sectors.
It is mentionable that during the partition of the Sub-continent in 1947, the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) which comprised Muslim majority chose to join Pakistan according to the British-led formula.
The main opposition party, however, asked the government to raise the issue of alleged atrocities in Balochistan and PoK in bilaterals with Pakistan as also at worldwide forums.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti called for peace in the Kashmir Valley which has been on the boil since July 8 killing of a rebel commander.
Three of the injured are in critical condition, police said.
Kashmir has witnessed the worst violence in almost 16 years since a July 8 encounter in which security forces killed a young popular separatist leader Burhan Wani. Tens of thousands of Kashmiris had participated in the funeral of Wani, while funeral prayers in absentia had been offered at several places in the disputed region. “These events have nothing to do with terrorism”, he said, calling the separatist campaign in Kashmir “an indigenous movement for self-determination”.
Modi met national party leaders on Friday to seek ways to end the worst unrest in Kashmir since 2010. They have opened up new ground by naming Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan and other areas of ferment within Pakistan that has caused rattle within Pakistan relation to India.
“Modi’s statement is meant as much for Beijing as for Islamabad”, journalist Prashant Jha wrote in an opinion piece for Indian newspaper Hindustan Times. The Prime Minister also hinted at the fact that in Pakistan “terrorism is being glorified” even as he spoke of the terror attack in a school in Peshawar.
It said: “Excellency, by killing around four dozen Kashmiri youth, youngest being a mere 12-year-old boy from Chitragam in Shopian, the Indian army has demonstrated once more that it has no regard for lives of Kashmiris, and that in reality, it is an army of occupation”.
As the clashes intensified, troops fired live bullets at the protesters.
Asserting that Baloch people are suffering genocide at the hands of Pakistan military and the leadership, he hoped India intervenes in the matter. I want to tell them that this country will not tolerate terrorism and militancy.
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The main function of the day was, as every year since Independence in 1947, held in Delhi where people in large numbers assembled in front of the historic Red Fort to listen to their Prime Minister on a windy morning.
