Reaching out to the Valley where protests have raged for ten days since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament Monday he wants to visit Kashmir and hold direct talks with the people “whose pain is being felt by every Indian”. Replying to a Rajya Sabha discussion on the situation in Kashmir, Singh said he had conveyed his desire to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who, while welcoming the offer, told him to wait until the situation normalises somewhat. He said she told him she would come to Delhi and discuss the format for the talks. Underlining that people of Kashmir are “our own people”, Singh said he had personally instructed chiefs of paramilitary units and security forces to exercise “maximum restraint” in dealing with protests. Clear orders have been given to use “non-lethal weapons” if at all force has to be used against protesters, he said. The use of pellet guns, blamed for most civilian injuries, would be looked into, Singh said, adding that he would speak to the Chief Minister regarding this. Invoking Atal Bihari Vajpayee on ‘Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat, Insaniyat’, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi too believes in the dictum of finding a solution to the Kashmir problem within these confines: “If there is any place for Kashmiriyat in Jamhooriyat’ (democracy), it can be only on the basis of ‘Insaniyat’ (humanity) and not ‘Haivaniyat’ (evil). Those believing in Kashmiriyat and Insaniyat, cannot give space to Haivaniyat.” WATCH VIDEO: Kashmir Protests Victim: 5-Year Old Zohra On How She Got Hit “Whatever is happening in Kashmir is Pakistan-sponsored. The name is ‘Pakistan’, but its acts are na-pak (impure). They do not have to worry about Muslims of this country. People of India will look after Muslims of India.” Referring to demands for ‘plebiscite’, he ruled it out, saying it is “outdated” and people of Kashmir are being “misguided” on this issue. “Kashmiris are our own people. We will bring them on the right path. We will make them aware of the reality,” Singh said. He said the government’s seriousness on Kashmir can be gauged from the fact that Modi had called from abroad to check on the Kashmir situation and a review meeting on the state was his first on his return “despite jetlag”. Opening the discussion, former J&K CM and Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the BJP’s failure to learn from his and Omar Abdullah’s experiences of dealing with street protests in Kashmir had thrown the state back to the turbulent 1990s. “One cannot look at the pictures that are being circulated on WhatsApp. There was one where a DIG was crushing the face of a young kid with his boots. Nobody is supporting militancy but shouldn’t there be a distinction between militants and common man? How can the bullet that is being used for a militant be used on a six-year-old, an old man and a woman. Common men need the healing touch, militants need the gun,” Azad said. Watch Video: What's making news He slammed Pakistan saying people who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others. “Indian Muslims are capable of deciding their own fate, fighting for their rights in their own country. We do not need the support of Pakistan. Many years ago, we chose our country as they did theirs,” he said. He questioned why television was giving a platform to people like Taslima Nasreen to spew hatred against Islam when their own countries had banished them. Azad attempted to trace the origins of the discord to the “mismatch” of the BJP-PDP alliance, a statement that was immediately rejected by Leader of the House Arun Jaitley who said that mathematically that was the only possible government in the state. Unrest in Kashmir, including the present one, stem from the fact that Pakistan never reconciled to its inclusion in India and having realised it could not win a conventional war, it took this route. “Thousands attacking a police post armed with stones changed the very paradigm of terror at a time when there was a global appetite against terror,” he said. CPM’s Sitaram Yechury said the government’s blow-hot, blow-cold policy towards Pakistan has to stop but it also needs to feel the pain of Kashmiris. “Sometimes it is a 56-inch chest, sometimes there is an unscheduled stopover for biryani,” he said, referring to the Prime Minister’s sudden decision to have tea with Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif last year. Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut said: “Chai pe charcha will not happen with Pakistan any more but it will happen with the people of Kashmir. But there cannot be Pakistani and IS flags in the Valley. If this august House mourns the likes of Burhan Wani, we send a very wrong message. we have to also laud the efforts of our jawans in the Valley and the intense pressure that they work under. Nobody in our country fires at women deliberately or hurts children.”
