Rajnath Singh hints at Hurriyat talks

Despite the mild drama at chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s residence that threatened to overtake the Centre’s rather conciliatory message to Kashmiris, Union home minister Rajnath Singh did his best to reach out to Kashmiris on the second day of his second trip to Kashmir in a month, and succeeded.

Mr Singh said here on Thursday that an alternative to pellet guns will be proposed within a few days and dropped enough hints about the Centre’s willingness to hold talks with the Hurriyat Conference.

Mr Singh, in Kashmir to review the situation and to reach out to the people, met delegations from almost every political party, about 20 civil society delegations, and held talks with chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. After the meeting, the two jointly addressed the media at her residence.

Mr Singh, stressing that there was no future for India without Kashmir, again invoked Atal Behari Vajpayee’s policy of Kashmiriyat, insaniyat and jamhooriyat (Kashmir’s pluralist ethos, humanity and democracy) to signal that the NDA government was ready for a dialogue with anyone.

“We want to shape the future of India. If the future of Kashmir is not shaped, the future of India cannot be shaped too,” Mr Singh told reporters in Kashmir, where the unrest entered the 48th day. There has been widespread criticism of pellet guns, the crowd-control device that has left many young Kashmiris maimed and blinded.

Ms Mufti, who was in a rather combative mood, criticised the stone-pelters.

“Stone-throwing will not end Kashmir’s problems. We have to reach out to those who want peace,” she said, adding that only five per cent people were creating trouble and that “95 per cent of people want an end to the crisis”.

But Ms Mufti soon lost her cool, when asked by a journalist if she had swapped roles and views with her predecessor Omar Abdullah on protests.

To this, the chief minister angrily asserted that violence in the state since July could in no way be compared to the disaffection Kashmiris had expressed in 2010 when they had valid reasons to do so. “There was a reason for 2010, Shopian (alleged rapes by security personnel) happened, innocents were being targeted by security officers. Don’t you confuse that situation with what is happening now. The young man setting a police station on fire now cannot be compared with someone being shot at while going out to buy milk or toffee,” she said, and stood up abruptly to leave while Mr Singh was still seated and replying to the barrage of questions from reporters. He also then got up reluctantly and the press interaction at her residence ended.

Before the press meet came to an abrupt end, Mr Singh told reporters that an all-party delegation would visit Kashmir and that he has asked Ms Mufti to make arrangements for it as the event needs elaborate preparation.

Mr Singh also expressed extreme sadness at the situation in Kashmir and appealed to locals to not play with the future of Kashmir’s youth.

“I have said it before also, youth in Kashmir should have pens, books and computers in their hands, not stones. Children are children, if they pick up stones, they must be counselled. We have to identify those elements that are trying to mislead some of our youth in Kashmir,” said Mr Singh.

The home minister, however, also asked people not to forget what the defence forces did for them during the Kashmir floods of September 2014 and said over 4,000 security personnel have been injured in protests and clashes.

About 68 civilians and two policemen have been killed and thousands of people injured in the unrest triggered by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani. The security forces have also been accused of committing excesses on the local population in the name of containing the unrest.