Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who had led the all-party delegation to Kashmir, briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and also met top leaders of the BJP, including party chief Amit Shah and Finance Minster Arun Jaitley. Asserting that Parliament is very serious about the prevailing situation in the Kashmir valley, he said the Centre and state governments are of the view that situation in Kashmir needed to improve.
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During the meeting it was also stated that the Hurriyat Conference issues calendar of protests every week.
“Some members of the delegation met Hurriyat leaders and that the government neither approved nor disapproved of the same”.
Congress member and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said that the Centre should formulate short term and long term policies to immediately restore normalcy in the Valley.
They demanded effective steps to ensure security for all citizens and provide medical treatment to those injured during the agitations in the State.
Meanwhile, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury urged the government to start an “unconditional dialogue” with all stakeholders, including separatists, for peace in Kashmir that is battling almost two months of the deadliest unrest in years.
AP adds from New Delhi: Indian government troops will begin using some chili-filled shells instead of shotgun pellets to control angry crowds in the Indian-administered portion of Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Sept.5.
The all-party delegation members, including CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D Raja, CPI (M) MLA Yousuf Tarigami and Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav, have left to meet separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. To a query about possibility of “Track-2” talks on Kashmir, Singh said he did not wish to enter into a debate about “track-one, track-two or track-three”.
“The members of the all-party delegation appeal to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to shun violence and resort to dialogue to solve problems”, Jitendra Singh further said. There are also concerns that the hawkish approach by the government could flare up the situation and put the government in a corner.
All the other leaders of political parties welcomed the move to initiate discussion to bring about lasting peace to the state.
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The government is also hoping that the apple and walnut season would compel the farmers and traders to force separatists to normalise the situation in the Valley. He said the “doors are wide open” for talks with anyone interested in peace and normalcy. When asked about whether the home minister would speak to Pakistan about the issue, Singh said, “Let’s first speak to those in the country”.
