Asked about Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s letter to separatists inviting them for talks with APD, the Union Home Minister said he was aware of the letter.
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Interestingly, the appeal for talks with all stakeholders came a day after reports that the Government was trying to clips the wings of the separatists by withdrawing several facilities they enjoy. “Now, it’s time to take strict action against them”, JD (U) leader Ajay Alok told ANI.
The decision to take such a tough stance was taken at a meeting between Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi here when the former briefed PM about the recent visit of all-party delegation led by him to the violence-hit frontier state. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh and BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav were also present in the hour-long meeting which also deliberated on the issues to be discussed at the meeting on Wednesday of the members of the delegation which visited Srinagar and Jammu on September 4 and 5. The members have also asked the state government to take steps to ensure that educational institutions, government offices and commercial establishments start functioning normally. Singh led the delegation of 26 MPs from 20 parties which stayed overnight in Srinagar before stopping over in Jammu Monday afternoon.
“There are no two opinions that Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will remain an integral part of India”.
Giving details about the all-party delegation meeting with various set of groups in Kashmir, Singh said, “Everyone is very concerned, we all are of the view that things in Kashmir need to improve”.
Kumar also targeted the Prime Minister for “schizophrenic” policy with regard to Pakistan and Kashmir.
“It is amply clear to us and the entire nationalist constituency in Jammu that Indian government along with the state government is only making a pretension of meeting the nationalists in the state”.
He said the Centre is giving full support to the state government which is also trying to bring improvement in the situation.
According to local officials and doctors, the use of pellet guns has killed at least four people and left more than 100 partially or completely blind. There should be a probe into allegations of excesses by security forces. “I am hopeful that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir will improve”, he said after meeting some “300 people including students, teachers, traders” during the delegation’s almost 30-hour stay in the valley. “Until the government talks to all the stakeholders in Kashmir, a solution will not be found”.
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To a query on track-2 channel talks, Singh said he did not wish to enter in the debate of “track-one, track-two or track-three”.
