Mehbooba Mufti’s idea of ‘unilateral ceasefire’ against ‘national interest’: BJP

On the CM’s remark that the Centre should support the move just the way “(Atal Bihari) Vajpayee did a unilateral ceasefire in 2000”, he said, “It was a different time and situation when a unilateral ceasefire was undertaken by the then Vajpayee government on the borders and in the hinterland.”

The BJP spokesperson also said that the militants were demoralised due to Army action and that a unilateral ceasefire would only ease the pressure and allow them to re-energise. “Our point is clear that pressure created by the Army on the terrorists should continue along with ‘operation all out’ and to a large extent, listed militants have been eliminated and only few among them are active. Soon, all the militants will be wiped out from Kashmir, going by the way the ‘operation all out’ is continuing,” he said.

“There are large scale casualties of militants taking place on daily basis. Currently, militants are holed up. They are under pressure. The raising of the demand for a unilateral ceasefire is aimed to give a way out to the demoralised militants, ease pressure, and to save them,” he added.

Sethi’s remarks came a day after Mufti said that an all-party meeting urged the Centre to “consider” announcing ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir. “The consensus of all was that we should appeal to the Government of India to consider, on the eve of Ramadan and Amarnath Yatra, the unilateral ceasefire… The way (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee did a unilateral ceasefire in 2000… the Government of India should think on those lines so that people get relief,” the CM had said.

With BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta by her side, she added: “Crackdowns are happening, encounters are happening and search operations are happening, people are facing a lot of hardship. And now it is the month of Ramadan and the Amarnath Yatra is starting, we should make efforts to take steps that restore the confidence of people here”.

The spokesperson also raked up the issue of stone-pelting in the region and claimed there were “stone pelting units” operating from Shopian to Baramulla in Kashmir. “They keep moving from place to place to engineer stone pelting on Army and para military forces,” he said.

“Today’s stone pelter is a potential terrorist of tomorrow. We will not agree are buy any argument that the hands of army should be tied,” he added.

Sethi also took a dig at the withdrawal of FIRs against first-time stone pelters. He said, “”First-time stone pelters continue to resort to stone pelting and have not stopped pelting stones post amnesty. It is a serious issue and we need to review the amnesty scheme.”

National Conference (NC) working president Omar Abdullah, on the other hand, hit out at the CM, saying she would “shamelessly cling to power” even as her party’s alliance partner BJP did not agree with her. Taking to Twitter, Omar said, “What was the point of @MehboobaMufti calling an all party meeting to build a consensus around initiatives in Kashmir when her ally in the Govt doesn’t agree with her! Yet she will shamelessly cling to power because that’s all that matters to her.”

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he had not been directly apprised of the appeal for a unilateral ceasefire during Ramzan and that he will hold talks with the Jammu and Kashmir CM in this regard. “I have not held direct talks with her on the issue but I have got this information…I will talk to her after going to New Delhi,” Singh told reporters at the sidelines of an event organised by the BSF in Lucknow.

Responding to a question on a tourist from Chennai being killed in stone pelting in Kashmir, Singh said it was “most unfortunate”. “The incident of a tourist dying due to stone pelting is most unfortunate…everyone is condemning it,” he said.

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