Protester Killed in Fresh Clashes in Indian Kashmir

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti conducted a joint press conference on J&K situation, in Srinagar on Thursday to discuss the situation in the valley.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday made a passionate appeal for peace in the Kashmir Valley, saying India’s future was incomplete without a peaceful Kashmir and announced that an all-party delegation will visit the state soon for talks on ending a protracted violent unrest that has killed almost 70 people since July 9.

The Home Minister, who is in Srinagar to take stock of the prevailing situation in the Kashmir Valley due to the unrest, held meetings with Mehbooba and several civil society delegations. The home minister arrived here to review the security situation in the wake of clashes between protestors and security forces that have left 66 people dead, including two police personnel.

The Home Minister said that an alternative to pellet guns will be given very soon.

# 95% ppl of the state don’t want violence, they want peace.

In the Kashmir Valley, when she wasn’t in office, she was hailed as a peoples’ politician who would attend funerals of slain militants, soothing their families and espousing for “self-rule” in the state. Many were killed and over 2000 people, including minors, sustained pellet injuries in the ongoing violence in Kashmir.

In this backdrop, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Saturday.

Singh also said that children who pick up stones must be counselled.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh sought people’s cooperation to bring peace and stability in Kashmir which has been in turmoil for over a month.

While alluding to separatists, Singh said he has no hesitation in talking to anyone under the ambit of humanity, democracy, and Kashmiriyat.

“Our youth are used by some elements as shields to attack army camps”.

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. “There was a reason for [the] 2010 [incidents]”. The state government had sent invitations to the business community for a meeting with the visiting Singh. “Civilians had died in 2010, there was a fake encounter in Machhil. Don’t compare the two”, she thundered. She claimed that the forces were observing maximum possible restraint and using minimum possible force in which, unfortunately, the young children in the fore front were getting hit.

India’s future, he said, is intrinsically linked to the future of Kashmir. Singh said delegations from nearly every political party have met him since he arrived in Srinagar. “The children didn’t go to the army camp to buy milk or toffees”, said Mehbooba, CM Mufti, whose Peoples Democratic Party is in an alliance with the BJP.

Protests have been so intense that besides major towns of Kashmir, people in villages have come out on streets to register their anger.