With violence continuing to singe Kashmir Valley, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent back NSA Ajit Doval from the ongoing Africa tour, 24 hours before he was scheduled to return, to review and defuse the situation even as the Centre on Monday rushed an additional 800 CRPF personnel to the State and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh reached out to the Opposition to take it into confidence on the issue. Sources said the Prime Minister will review the situation in Kashmir in a high-level meeting on Tuesday soon after his return from a five-nation tour of Africa.
The reinforcements are in addition to 1,200 personnel sent to aid the State police on Saturday. About 60 battalions (1,000 personnel each) are already stationed in the State as part of a counter-insurgency grid. The Centre expects to bring the situation under control in the next 72 hours.
The Union Home Minister chaired two high-level meetings of security and Intelligence agencies on Monday morning and evening to assess the situation, and called up Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to discuss the prevailing situation in the Valley.
During the telephonic conversation with Sonia and Omar, Singh discussed with them efforts to bring back peace and normalcy in the Valley. In a statement, Sonia maintained that there can be “no compromise” on matters relating to national security and that terrorism must be dealt with firmly.
Doval, who too was part of the meetings chaired by the Home Minister, said he was hopeful of finding a solution soon. “If there are problems, there are solutions. We are quite competent and confident of finding solutions,” he told PTI.
Meanwhile, Pakistan waded into Kashmir affairs with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s office terming the slain terrorist Burhan Wani a “Kashmiri leader” and asserting that such oppressive measures will not deter the people of J&K from their demand of exercising their right to self-determination in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions. And in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed along with another wanted terrorist Sayeed Salahuddin held a rally publicly warning of “many more Burhan Wanis”.
India reacted strongly to this, with the Ministry of External Affairs asking Pakistan to refrain from interfering in India’s internal matters. “The statement from Pakistan on the situation in Indian State of Jammu & Kashmir reflects Pakistan’s continued attachment to terrorism and its usage as an instrument of State policy. Pakistan is advised to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of its neighbours,” MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the role of Pakistan in the violent protests in Kashmir after killing of militant Wani was more evident now.
From time to time India has also been providing evidence and proof of that. There has been involvement and there has been perpetration of terrorism on the India’s soil from Islamabad,” he told reporters here.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju also took a dig at Pakistan for accusing India of committing human rights violations in Kashmir, saying it should worry more about such violations in PoK than the Valley. “They (Pakistan) should worry (more) about human rights violations in PoK than Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir is an internal matter of India,” he said.