While addressing the Rajya Sabha, Singh said that India was willing to discuss only Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) with Pakistan and that the question of discussing Jammu and Kashmir with Islamabad just does not arise.
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“No power on earth can separate it from India”, Singh said while replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on the current situation in the Kashmir Valley.
Referring to Modi’s comment that all Indians love Kashmir, the Congress leader said, “One should not love Kashmir for its beauty and nature alone”. However, US State Department spokesperson John Kirby had issued a statement that though US is concerned about the violence in Kashmir, it is a “matter for the Government of India to speak to specifically”.
Singh did not agree with the opposition demand for an all-party delegation trip to the Valley to hold discussions with all stakeholders.
Azad also added that Everyone in Kashmir is a victim of militancy.
“We will do what we can, you also try at your end”, said Rajnath gesturing to Congress benches.
Responding to demands to end the use of pellet guns that have caused a lot of injuries, the home minister said such weapons were used earlier as well.
In a bipartisan discussion over a deadly unrest in Kashmir, most politicians from across the spectrum on Wednesday urged the government to work out a political solution to problems in and bring peace to the restive Kashmir Valley. The Prime Minister should come.
The PM obliged the next day by saying that he would follow Vajpayee’s path of “Insaniyat, Jamhooriat and Kashmiriyat”.
Resonating his sentiments about the state of affairs in the valley Singh said that those who gets killed are the children belonging from the poorest of the poor sections of the valley.
Sharing the pain of the suffering Kashmiris, Parliament today unanimously appealed to people of the valley to restore peace and harmony even as the government expressed readiness to hold talks with moderate groups and others and made a decision to call an all-party meet on Friday.
“We should appeal for peace and tranquility from here for better future of Kashmir”.
Azad said that You call J&K an integral part of India, but there needs to be integration of the heart. “You are asking for too much if you expect (J&K CM) Mehbooba Mufti to tackle it alone”, Azad reminded the political underpinnings of the challenge. “I can’t say Kashmiris are living normal life but despite all odds, state government is making efforts to minimise their inconvenience”, Singh said. There is a very major worldwide aspect to it. Reiterating that slogans such as “Pakistan Zindabad” will not be allowed in the country, Singh ruled out the possibility of third-party interventionon the issue.
Expressing concern over the situation in the Kashmir Valley, the Congress leader said pellet guns should be banned in the valley.
The Home Minister also informed the House that 100 ambulances were destroyed by stone-pelting yet 400 more ambulances have been deployed.
In Kashmir, there has been no dearth of people willing to die for the country, he said, asking the masses to join hands in nation-building.
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The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Muhammad Yasin Malik in his statement termed the Modi’s assertions illogical, saying that describing the overwhelming pro-freedom population of Kashmir as some misled people is old tradition of Indian rulers.
