Modi: $12 Billion Aid Package for Kashmir

We did not get to hear what we wanted to hear. “Modi’s assistance can’t take over our mind because Kashmir is a political issue and not an economic issue”, Ghulam Hassan Pandith, 55, a resident of Kakpora, South Kashmir told TwoCircles.net.

Regarding Geelani’s maarch, Ghulam said that that an ocean of people from across the valley will join the rally to show their resentment against the “Indian Occupation of Kashmir”. “The packages are good”. The Jammu-Srinagar highway, which connects Kashmir to the rest of India, will remain closed on Nov 7.

The prime minister said his “first priority is relief for the flood victims, for farmers, for businessmen, for employment to local youth and infrastructure development”. Large numbers of security forces have been deployed in the sensitive areas to maintain calm and to ensure no untoward elements affect the Prime Minister’s visit. He said he hoped the economic package would “change the fate of Kashmir”.

“Our Million March will go ahead come what may”, Syed Ali Geelani, the senior most separatist leader who called for the counter-rally said in a statement Thursday. The Prime Minister did not listen to Mufti Sahib.

“…in front of him (PM), Mufti Mohammad Sayeed talked about starting dialogue”. What is Mufti Sahib doing when his words did not stand for few minutes? Even so, the PDP, which is in an alliance with the BJP in the State, will take a “holistic view of the situation”.

Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said at the public meeting that the road project would reduce the present 300-km distance of the highway by 64 km.

The Prime Minister also pitched for resumption of global cricket in Kashmir saying if a player like Parvez Rasool is making progress, then worldwide matches should also return. “Otherwise, we would not see such an atmosphere (at the rally)”, he added. We also need to have a more pluralistic vision when solving our core social, political and other sensitive issues that are not based on the age old hegemony but on egalitarian and rational principles. “Vajpayee’s context (in 2003) was about dialogue with Pakistan and alienation sections”.

Comparing the devastation from the floods to that in his home state of Gujarat after an natural disaster in 2001, Modi said: “thousands died… homes were destroyed… nobody believed we would be able to rebuild so quickly”. The Prime Minister could have broken silence over the hate attacks and atmosphere of intolerance in the country, he said. “When the PM referred to Insaniyaat, there was no reference to the Dadri and Udhampur incidents”, Mr. Abdullah said.