Srinagar, July 14:
Union Minister Jitendra Singh Wednesday said militancy in Kashmir was in its last phase.
“We are now in the last phase of militancy,” Singh said addressing a news conference here.
Singh, who holds the portfolio of Minister of State (MoS) in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region, said he was optimistic that militancy was going to outlive its life.
“I am dealing with North East also and we saw it happening in different parts of India,” he said. “This protracted phase of militancy and violence would finally meet its end.”
The rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said there was no other issue in Kashmir apart from militancy.
“JK being the integral part of India is a foregone conclusion and if at all there is any issue, it is retrieving back other Kashmir, which is under the illegal occupation of Pakistan,” he said referring to the a resolution passed by the Parliament on February 22, 1994.
Singh said the solution to this ongoing phase of violence was being worked on and that there had been a decisive headway in combating militancy in the past few weeks or months.
Referring to the standoff between Chinese and Indian troops in Doklam, a narrow plateau lying in the tri-junction of Bhutan, China and India and a disputed territory claimed by both Bhutan and China, he said, Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had already stated that India was very comfortably placed as far as China issue was concerned.
“And please always keep in mind that 2017 is not 1962,” the MoS PMO said. “Whenever such observations are made, we have in the back of mind, what was experienced in 1962 but India today is much different and much better equipped to meet any challenge.”
Earlier, Beijing had warned New Delhi to learn lessons from its defeat in 1962 and stop clamouring for a war.
Singh said New Delhi was prepared to deal with hostile power Pakistan.
“Pakistan is a hostile power,” he said but added that New Delhi was prepared to deal with what Islamabad was doing.
Downplaying suggesting of holding talks with Hurriyat leaders, the MoS PMO said the stakeholders of Kashmir issue were Kashmiri Pandits, Jammu and Ladakh.
He though seconded Union Home Minister Rajanth Singh’s statement saying he was correct in suggesting that “every person in Kashmir is not a terrorist”.
Singh said anything untoward that happens in Kashmir echoes across India.
Accompanied by MoS Home, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir and Joint Secretary Home (J&K), Gyanesh Kumar, he said, “There is a surge of sentiments across the length and breadth of the peninsula and the kind of sensitivity with which every citizen of India looks upto Kashmir.”
Before winding up his two-day visit to Kashmir, the senior BJP leader congratulated the civil society and people of Kashmir for the kind of resilience and discipline they had shown for the past 25 years and every time they came across situations like the recent killings of Amarnath yatris.
“There are certain elements who wish to fish in the troubled waters of Jhelum and hope that something goes wrong but the civil society has proved every mischief wrong and vindicated our faith in everything that India stands for, that Jammu Kashmir stands for,” he said.
The MoS PMO said people of Kashmir deserve being complimented as they not only denounced the killings of yatris but also made an aggressive plea that such incidents should be checked, not allowed to happen in future, and the guilty be brought to book.
“Previously, this was perhaps not very visible and there used to tendencies of selective condemnations with certain acts of violence condemned very vociferously and others condemned apologetically.”
Singh said the morale of the civil society and the people was so high that yatris were insistent that the yatra should not be suspended even for a moment.
“And if this is the spirit of the common masses, nothing can defeat our will to go ahead,” he said.
The BJP leader said New Delhi had already engaged Kashmir’s civil society and their inputs were being well taken.
He welcomed the statements of Lashkar-e-Toiba militant outfit and United Jehad Council (UJC), an amalgam of several indigenous militant organisations operating in Kashmir, saying the development was healthy.
The MoS PMO also acknowledged the contribution of media saying their role had always been positive and sought their cooperation and suggestions to highlight issues other than violence from Jammu Kashmir.
“Two months back I persuaded two news channels to highlight tourism in Kashmir and they showed kids playing around in Nishat Bagh and Shalimar Bagh that people in India and rest of the world saw,” he said.
Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government at New Delhi accords priority and importance to each and every state, more so the peripheral states including Jammu Kashmir and the North East states.
Referring to assertions of the former Sadri Riyasat, Karan Singh that it was opportune time to impose Governor’s rule in Jammu Kashmir as Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had failed to control law and order in the State for the past year and a half, he said taking such a decision was the discretion of Ministry of Home Affairs.
“Certain mechanisms are also in place that have prerogative to take certain decisions,” the BJP leader said.
He said drawing a conclusion of “Kashmir versus rest of India” was prejudicial.
“The conclusion is only drawn in certain sections of the so-called intelligentsia but not among common masses walking on the streets of Kashmir,” the MoS Home said.
He said in the past three to four years, toppers of civil services were coming from Kashmir.
“A youth from Anantnag last year secured second rank in IAS and now was in Rajasthan cadre; another Kashmiri youth, who studied at SKUAST, was in Indian Forest Services; 12 youth from Jammu Kashmir passed Indian Medical Academy exams, and 16,000 applications were received for 700 posts of sub inspectors,” Singh said. “So in an aspirational Kashmir, wherefrom is ‘India versus Kashmir’ conclusion drawn.”
He said 65 percent population of Jammu Kashmir and India being below the age group of 40 years, there was a need to see that their energies were not wasted and the government lives up to their aspirations.
The BJP leader said Kashmiri youth wanted to join Indian mainstream and move ahead but feel the environment in the valley was not conducive due to a handful of youth.
“In fact common youth of Kashmir is keen to be part of the developmental journey of Prime Minister Modi,” he said. “In last three years, Kashmiri youth have been availing new schemes like ‘Start Up India, Stand Up India’ wherein they get tax holidays and three-months exit period.”
Stressing that many Kashmiri youth were getting trained in coaching centres in New Delhi for various competitive exams, the MoS PMO said he himself had facilitated admissions of many in these coaching centres.
“They do not want the opportunities to go waste and this is the best opportunity India is giving Kashmiri youth, who don’t want to be deprived of the opportunities that are available to youth in India,” he said.
About the failure of New Delhi in roping Kashmiri youth, who were being pushed toward militancy by ‘atrocities’ committed by Jammu Kashmir Police, troops and paramilitary forces, Singh said everything cannot be left to the government.
“Is it not the responsibility of society elders and religious leader to make sure that their children don’t go astray? Has anybody taken cudgels to tell these young boys or those who are instigating youth to take up gun and pelt stones why they don’t set an example by first offering their children to take to gun? Why don’t the society elders get together and give a call to youth not to get instigated and provoked by the so-called protagonists who have sent their own children to safe havens while making the best of all the avenues available both in the government as well as outside? If they were so honest protagonists would they have not set an example by fist giving gun in the hands of their own children? This is what the society has to tell not the government,” he said.
The MoS PMO said the inferences that killings of seven Amarnath yatris in the attack had resulted due to security lapse should be avoided and left to the wisdom of security experts.
“No political functionary, howsoever high he or she might be placed, enjoys the prerogative to sit on security-related judgements as the investigation is still on,” he said. “The Director General of Police and security agencies within few hours shared with us that they had identified the group and the main person involved in the attack.”
Singh was referring to reports that LeT’s Abu Ismail had been the mastermind of the attack on yatris.
“I am sure the security experts will proceed further and come out with inferences about how to go about in future,” he said. “So it is better to leave it to the judgment of security experts instead of jumping to conclusion and once we have definite conclusion, the State government in cooperation with GoI will act upon carrying it forward.”
The BJP leader said the government could take some supplementary measures for the smooth conduct of yatra and use hi-tech methods, helpline methods and warning gadgets available to them.
“Our security officers are working on it,” he said.
At the press meet, Singh was accompanied by MoS Home, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir and Joint Secretary Home (J&K), Gyanesh Kumar.
Kashmir militancy in last phase: GoI
