Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu questioned and expressed surprise over increasing protest over killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, in the Kashmir Valley and said ‘How can any Indian have sympathy for killing of a terrorist and we will not tolerate such sentiments and activities.”
Speaking to media here on Sunday on the sidelines of a felicitation programme, he said, “We are really surprised that some people are trying to support those so-called protesters who are sympathising with the terrorist. He is a Hizbul Mujahideen commander. How can any Indian have sympathy for such peopleIJ As far as the Government is concerned, we are very clear that we will not tolerate such activities,”
“Kashmir is an integral part of India. There is no question of any negotiation or any discussion on that. But you cannot have an overnight or ready made solution for such a long standing issue,” he said.
Talking about the current state of unrest in the Valley, the Union Minister asserted the Government was trying to deal with the problem by adopting democratic methods and added that the Centre was extending all the support to the State Government.
“The Centre and State together will tackle the situation. I am confident that the situation will be brought to normalcy at the earliest. Some people who are inspired by our neighbour are trying to create disturbances,” Naidu claimed.
Violence erupted in south Kashmir districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam and later spread to other districts in the Valley after security forces killed Wani and two of his associates in Bamdoora (Kokarnag) village of Anantnag district on Friday.
Wani was buried in his native Shariefabad (Tral) village on Saturday where nearly 40,000 people gathered defying curfew restrictions to take part in his funeral prayers. The separatists have called for a valley-wide shutdown till Monday to protest against Wani’s killing.
Naidu blamed Pakistan for abetting terrorism in the valley. “Aiding, abetting, funding, training terrorism is not acceptable at all. Pakistan should give up such tactics. They will not succeed in their attempts. Modi has given a signal that he would like to work with Pakistan and want to have friendship and long term understanding. But if Pakistan continues to do such things, then the government has to think its policy,” Naidu said.
Earlier in a function Naidu expressed unhappiness over sensationalism getting prominence over development in the news and asked media to be “constructive”.
“As a Minister for Information and Broadcasting I am going to interact with media, with media owners, editors in the coming days, because the agenda of the country should be development. People want development, they want good governance that should be the headline, any other information will be deadline not the headline,” Naidu said.
He said, “Unfortunately in India obstruction is a news, destruction is a news and construction will not make news; sensationalism is news, things that have no sense are sensationalised and it becomes news.”
Clarifying that he was not asking media not to criticise the Government or the Prime Minister, Naidu said, be “constructive”. “What I’m pleading with the media is please be constructive. I’m not saying praise Modi no you criticize Modi, but focus should be on development. Tell people Modi had said this, it has not happened or this mush has happened and this much has not,” he added.