As the ongoing violence in J&K entered its second month on Monday, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reach out to the people of the state and open a dialogue with all shades of opinion on the lines of the initiative taken earlier by former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee.
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The meeting, which continued for nearly two hours, was called by Mr. Singh to review the situation in the State.
Prior to meeting Mehbooba, Rajnath Singh met PM Modi along with Doval to discuss Kashmir turmoil.
The Centre, concerned over continuing violence in the Kashmir Valley for nearly a month now, held a series of meetings on Monday to assess the security situation in the State. “If process of dialogue with the people of Jammu and Kashmir can improve the situation in valley, we should do it”, Mufti told reporters according to PTI.
“Instead of being a root cause of dispute between India and Pakistan, J&K can become a bridge of friendship between the two countries”, said Mehbooba adding that “like Vajpayee government, this government will also take the initiative to win heart of Kashmiri people”.
PM Modi is yet to address the month long Kashmir turmoil that so far has resulted in 55 deaths besides leaving almost 7,000 injured. I am hopeful that the Prime Minister will take this as an opportunity to initiate dialogue with people to address their problems. “Please do not consider this as a law and order issue”, Azad told the government.
Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti on Monday raised the need of winning hearts of people of J&K.
Azad pointed out how then the widespread anger and resentment had subsided after an all-party delegation from Parliament visited Kashmir in 2010 to meet a cross section of people and then interlocutors were appointed to carry out wide ranging discussions with different sections of society, including mainstream political parties.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said: “It’s been 30 days of curfew”.
Sharing similar views, Sitaram Yechury (CPM) said the situation was grave in Kashmir, adding the treatment meted out to protestors was “inhuman and criminal”. I don’t think any state had curfew for 30 days after Independence. Stating that even Israel does not use pellet guns against Palestinians, he said the situation can not be solved by law and order machinery.
D Raja (CPI) said the top priority at the moment was to de-escalate and reduce the presence of the Army and security forces in civilian areas.
Samajwadi Party member Neeraj Shekhar said: “The youths killed were Indians or not?”
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He also slammed the government for remaining silent on the issue.
