Kashmir unrest was ‘pre-planned’, only handful involved: Mehbooba
23 Aug 2016 10:49 PM GMT
She expressed pain that children are being used as a shield by “vested interests” while attacking camps and posts of security forces to incite them, as a result of which innocent kids become a casualty.
Mehbooba also sent out a message to those raising “pro- azadi” slogans, asking them to see the condition of Muslims in Islamic countries like Pakistan, Syria, Turkey and Afghanistan even though these nations have “freedom”. She said once gun makes inroads in a society, then the meaning of ‘azadi’ is lost.
“I have been saying that gun will not solve anything. Stones also will not solve anything,” she said at a public meeting here, while underlining that anybody having any grievance should come forward to discuss it through talks.
Contending that she had planned so many developmental programmes to be pushed after Eid, she said the unrest was “pre-planned” as “vested interests” were keen to latch on to something to trigger unrest.
“I don’t understand what happened... people were waiting for a chance. Whenever the situation becomes little better in J&K, tourism starts, work begins, something or the other happens which creates problems in normal functioning,” Mehbooba said.
“After the Assembly (session) was over, we had decided to work more. But after (her) Assembly (election) result and Eid, all this began,” she said.
Referring to the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in a gunfight, the Chief Minister said, “there was nothing new in this. Killing of militants has been happening for the past 25 years. I want to tell you this because all this was pre-planned. They were waiting for a reason, a chance to put the state back into that fire in which it was always.”
She said, “they (those indulging in violence) are only a handful of people. Most Kashmiris want peace. They understand that the kind of freedom Kashmir is enjoying today is not there even in Islamic countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey and Pakistanis. When gun enters a country, it is no more free, no matter how much it claims to be free.”
Kashmir issue was on the verge of resolution under Atal: Bhagwat
The Kashmir issue was on the verge of resolution under the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said here but lamented that the later governments did not follow up on Vajpayee's efforts.
"Kashimiri people do not want to live with Pakistan. We should develop nationalistic feelings among the people in Kashmir," the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader said on the unrest in the Valley while addressing an event on Sunday.
Bhagwat recalled how Vajpayee "had almost solved the Kashmir issue but later governments did not follow up on Vajpayee's efforts".
Addressing about 2,000 young couples in the city, the RSS chief answered a volley of questions from his audience on Kashmir issue, cow protection, missionary schools, uniform civil code among others.
On the issue of cow vigilantism, he said cow protection work should be done within the legal framework. The RSS chief batted for strong value systems, especially among the younger generations.
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