SRINAGAR: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday blamed Pakistan for the current unrest in Jammu and Kashmir and termed stone-throwing protesters as “aggressors out to divide the country.”
“Those advocating the cause of stone-throwers are playing petty politics. Militancy and stone-pelting need to be dealt with firmly, and no laxity should be shown in dealing with such situations,” he said, during a speech in Samba district of Jammu in memory of Premnath Dogra.
Describing the stone-throwing protesters as “aggressors”, Mr. Jaitley said: “They are notsatyagrahis but those who target the police and security forces. However, people with limited vision are not able to see this side. Some people… talk about human rights in Kashmir. Have they ever visited the Valley and seen those security men who have been injured while performing their duty?”
Mr. Jaitley accused Pakistan of fuelling stone-throwing incidents in the Valley. “Pakistan is attacking India’s integrity in a new way, having failed to snatch the State by waging wars and fuelling trouble ever since the Partition in 1947,” he said.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three priorities were “no compromise on the security and integrity of the country and no compromise with the people who indulge in violence. Two, Jammu and Kashmir has faced violence and wars, it needs development, which was denied for the past 60 years by the National Conference and Congress governments. Three, Jammu, the support base of the BJP, needs additional attention.”
Mr. Jaitley is the second Union Minister to visit the State, after Home Minister Rajnath Singh, with the civilian unrest showing no signs of let-up.
Though he termed the situation “serious”, he dropped no hints at any concession to protesters or separatists.
“…Pakistan was created only to divide India. It started a proxy war against us in the 1990s. During 2008 and 2010, they gave the new face of stone-pelting to their proxy war and that is what is happening in the Valley this time also,” Mr. Jaitley said.
Meanwhile, clashes and the action by security forces left one youth dead and 88 civilians injured in north and south Kashmir as civilian unrest entered the 44th day on Sunday.
Irfan Ahmad died after a tear-gas shell hit him in the chest at Nowhatta in Srinagar.
“The youth was brought in a critical condition. He died of his injury,” Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital medical superintendent Nazir Chowdhary said.
Protests occurred in Srinagar despite curfew.
Bureau Report
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