Talking about stone pelting incidents in Kashmir, Modi said: “The children or youths in whose hands there should be laptop, book, volleyball or cricket bat, who should have dreams in their hearts, such innocent (youths) are given stones to pelt”.
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Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party is part of an uneasy coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state.
Expressing concern over the situation in the Kashmir Valley, the Congress leader said pellet guns should be banned in the valley.
“I have no hesitation in saying that whatever is happening in Kashmir is sponsored by Pakistan”.
“I appeal to the people of Kashmir to refrain from such activities”, the Home Minister said. That is why there is talk of sending all-party delegation…
As many as 55 persons, including two cops, have been killed and several thousand others injured in the clashes between protesters and security forces since the killing of Hizbul terrorist Burhan Wani in an encounter.
His party colleague and former Jammu and Kashmir governor Karan Singh said the government and the house should “introspect why thousands of youths have embarked on a path of destruction” in the valley. “It is Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh that make the state”, Manhas said as the upper house discussed the situation amid a bloody unrest in the valley.
Modi was speaking at a rally in the state of Madhya Pradesh to mark the birth anniversary of Indian freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad on Tuesday, 9 August. “We have to chalk out such political measures that the people of Jammu and Kashmir also start loving us”, said Yadav. This is something which we fail to understand…we all want to know as to when Bhopal has become the centre point of the national politics instead of Parliament, he added.
But in the Kashmir Valley, “it is a battle between nationalism and separatism”.
Reacting to Modi’s speech, Omar tweeted: “Herein lies the crux of the problem – the unwillingness to accept that development doesn’t solve all problems”.
Swapan Dasgupta, a nominated member allied to the BJP, said he agreed with the view that a political approach was required.
“We have had these political gimmicks of probes for the past so many decades and we can’t be fooled by these hollow slogans”.
Leaders of many parties participating in a marathon nine-hour debate demanded a meeting of all mainstream parties be called at the earliest and that an all-party delegation visit the Valley at the earliest.
“We feel that Prime Minister should have spoken on the current unrest early, besides expressing sympathy and concern for the people of Kashmir”, a state Congress spokesperson said in a statement.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Kashmiri rebels who have been fighting for independence or for a merger with Pakistan since 1989.
To stress his point that only handful of people are influenced by separatists, he said 61 per cent of people voted in elections, which proves they have faith in democracy.
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“India is the only country that respects feelings of people of every religion”. He also said he was not impressed with the PM relying on Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s proposed principles of “insaniyat, Kashmiriyat, jamooriya” to tackle Kashmir.
