Hope Rajnath takes confidence-building measures, ends use of pellet guns: Cong
Expressing serious concern over the Kashmir situation, Congress on Saturday voiced hope that home minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to the Valley would announce confidence-building measures and that pellet guns would no longer be used on protesters.
Expressing serious concern over the Kashmir situation, Congress on Saturday voiced hope that home minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to the Valley would announce confidence-building measures and that pellet guns would no longer be used on protesters.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that he and his government are not “concerned” about the people of Kashmir as he was not present either in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha when the issue was discussed.
“Now, after 16 days, the home minister has gone to Kashmir. I have full faith that he will announce it to the people of Kashmir that there will be no more use of pellet guns from now.
“I also hope that the home minister will start taking confidence-building measures, so that the people of Kashmir once again show the same faith in the central and state governments,” he said.
The Union home minister arrived in Srinagar on Saturday morning on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to take stock of the prevailing law and order situation in the Valley.
Azad said the situation in Kashmir, which has been rocked by violence after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, was a matter of “serious concern”.
Training his guns on the Prime Minister, Azad said, “There were discussions on the Kashmir issue in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha but the Prime Minister did not attend any of those, which shows how much concerned the government and the PM are about the people of Kashmir”.
Curfew was on Saturday lifted from four districts of Kashmir and parts of Srinagar city in view of the improving situation in these areas but remained in force in the rest of the Valley as a precautionary measure.
As many as 45 people have been killed and over 3,400 injured in clashes between protesters and security forces since July 9.
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