JAMMU: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Monday that her government’s thrust would be to “demotivate” newly recruited militants and bring them back to their homes in Kashmir, and took a swipe at Pakistan over repeated violations of the ceasefire noting “nothing comes out of firing”.
“Our first thrust would be to demotivate those who have recently joined the (militant) outfits but have not been involved in any kind of militancy act, and bring them back to their homes,” Mehbooba told reporters at civil secretariat after durbar opening in Jammu.
In the same breath, she said the security forces were well-equipped and capable to deal with militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.
Referring to the surrender of militant Umar Khaliq Mir in Baramulla last week after five-hour-long efforts of the security forces, she said, “The boy, who came back, had joined militant ranks three months ago and he was not involved in any militancy-related incident.”
“I am confident that they (security forces) are capable in dealing with the situation. There were presence of thousands of militants (during the beginning of militancy) and today there are 200-300 militants present in which some foreign mercenaries are there,” she said here where the Civil Secretariat reopened on Monday after functioning from Srinagar for six months.
She said militancy was always a concern whether there are two or 50 militants present or 250-300 militants and that the endeavour would be to bring back them into national mainstream.
Taking a swipe at Pakistan, she said, “I hope and pray that Pakistan understands that the two countries have to live together and nothing will come out of firing.”
She said, “It is very unfortunate that there have been border firings and internal unrest for over three months in Kashmir…our people are suffering and this is unfortunate on the part of our history that we are facing this situation for nearly 70 years.”
“Firing is taking place, our people are getting displaced and schools are closed at the borders and the education of the children get affected. I hope that good sense prevails,” she said.
Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mehbooba said, “We have powerful leadership at the Centre and that tolerance is the sign of power of a government and it reflects that you are able to take decisions.”
“Modi-ji went to Lahore and extended the hand of friendship and I feel that they (Pakistan) will recognised that friendship and will start taking the move forward from where former (PM Atal Bihari) Vajpayee left,” Mehbooba said.
“But unfortunately after Modi-ji visit, there was no positive response from that side,” she said.
Asked whether Modi is a difficult person to deal with in terms of Indo-Pak confidence building initiative, she said, “I feel that the way the Vajpayee-ji took a bold step at that point of time even after they (Pak) engineered Kargil but he did not gave up his re-conciliatory initiative and agenda but called former Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf for Agra Summit. Even after that the Parliament attack took place.
But Vajpayee went to Lahore.”
“It was in the similar way that Modi-ji invited them (Pakistani leadership) and then went to Lahore and tried his best and followed the footsteps of Vajpayee,” she said.
“At Lahore, it was decided that Pakistani soil will not be used against India (for terrorism & separatism),” she claimed.
“We feel that there is no solution other than the formula of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. You can change your friends but you cannot change your neighbours. So we have to find some way out, we have to live together, this is the reality,” she said.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also said that several people involved in burning down of schools in Kashmir have been arrested and those responsible for bringing education to a standstill will not be spared. She hinted that schools in the Valley may reopen in the coming week after remaining closed for nearly four months.
“The authorities have already taken into custody some miscreants who were engaged in burning down of schools. They have been arrested and put behind bars,” she told reporters.
“When everything started moving in Jammu and Kashmir, some miscreants burned down our schools which impacted the education system. We will not spare those who burned down our schools. I hope that in the coming week, there would be some good news (with regard to reopening of schools),” she said.
The chief minister said, “Children (of Kashmir) have been coming here (in Jammu) for studies and unfortunately, some of our schools have burned down and education has come to a standstill in a way (in Kashmir).”
As many as 34 schools have been burned down and 110 government buildings damaged in Kashmir Valley since the ongoing unrest began following the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in an encounter on July 8.
Out of the 110 government buildings, 65 were either completely gutted or partially burned down and 55 were damaged through “other means”.
Amid outrage over the burning of schools, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of this development and asked the state government to take steps to prevent such incidents and “unmask” to culprits.
Earlier this week, the Centre too had asked the state government to check such attempts and make efforts for reopening the schools which have been closed since July 9.
Asked about the change of heart and stubborn attitude of the separatists with regard to the situation in Kashmir, she said, “You are posing a question to the wrong person. You should ask this question to them (separatists), what can I say.”
Darbar move: Offices reopen in Jammu
JAMMU: As part of the pre-independence biannual practice of darbar move, the offices including Civil Secretariat, Raj bhawan and J&K Legislature on Monday began its functioning in winter capital Jammu for the next six month.
Darbar move reopening was marred by protests and court-in-arrests by the opposition NC and Congress, who tried to gherao secretariat.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on her arrival at the Civil Secretariat inspected the ceremonial parade and received Guard-of-Honour by a contingent of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, official spokesman said.
Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Kumar Singh, Council of Ministers, Advisor to CM, Chief Secretary, DGP, Administrative Secretaries, other senior officers of police and civil administration, besides employees of the Civil Secretariat welcomed the Chief Minister.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister, who also interacted with mediapersons, in response to certain questions, said the government is making all out efforts to bring things back to normal in the valley and termed burning of schools in Kashmir as “most unfortunate”.
She said education is among the worst impacted sectors because of the recent turmoil. Expressing confidence that things will improve and peace shall prevail, Mehbooba said the authorities have been able to get hold of some miscreants who were involved in the burning of schools. The Chief Minister also expressed anguish over the recent escalation of tension along the borders.
Terming the situation as a “testing one”, she said there has been unrest in the valley internally on one hand and shelling along the borders externally on the other.
Mehbooba said it is one of “most unfortunate period in the history of the state.”
She also expressed concern over the shutdown of schools along the borders.
Reiterating the urgency for revival of peace and reconciliation process, the Chief Minister said former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s formula is the way out and solution to the issues in the region.
“His (Vajpayee) efforts both on internal and external fronts, including visit to Lahore and invite to President Musharraf, resulted in ceasefire along the borders,” she said.
Expressing confidence that the leadership at the Centre will take some bold initiatives, Mehbooba said similar efforts will sure help make things better between the two neighbours.
The Chief Minister said our political leadership has taken initiatives to revive the process of reconciliation with Pakistan including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invite to the Pakistani leadership and visit to Lahore.
However, it is time for Pakistani political leadership to reciprocate, she added.
Referring to local youth who have been misguided into militancy, the Chief Minister said all efforts are being made to handhold such youth back to mainstream.
Later, the Chief Minister also inspected few offices in the Civil Secretariat.
She enquired from the Director Estates regarding allotment of residential and office accommodation.
The Governor’s secretariat in the Raj Bhavan, Jammu, commenced functioning here today.
The Secretariat had closed at Srinagar on October 27.
Governor N N Vohra went around the various wings of the Raj Bhavan Secretariat and directed the officers and staff to ensure cleanliness, courteous conduct in regard to all visitors, prompt disposal of all references, methodical record keeping, disaster management preparedness, and proper maintenance of the entire Raj Bhavan estate.
The Speaker, Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Kavinder Gupta along with Deputy Speaker Nazir Ahmed Gurezi inspected various sections in Assembly Secretariat and took stock of the arrangements made for smooth functioning on reopening of the offices in Winter Capital after Annual Durbar Move, here.
On the opening of offices in the winter capital after annual Durbar Move, the Deputy Chairman, Legislative Council, Jahangir Hussain Mir today inspected various wings of Council Secretariat and took stock of the arrangements made for smooth functioning of these offices.
The 141-year-old Darbar move practice was started by the Dogra Maharaja of the state Ranbir Singh in 1872 to escape the extreme weather conditions in Jammu during summers and in Srinagar during winters.