Sir — This refers to the report, “Centre takes hard line on hardliners” (September 7). The Union Government’s plan to clamp down on the Hurriyat and other separatist leaders by restricting their foreign travel, scaling down the security enjoyed by them at the exchequer’s cost and monitoring their foreign funding is something which was long overdue.
The root cause of the Kashmir problem are the separatist leaders who pose to be the leaders of the Kashmiris, but have never obtained the people’s mandate by participating in elections. They dance to the tune of Pakistan and foment trouble by provoking the Kashmiris against the Government and security forces.
The way they rejected Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s invitation for talks with the all-party delegation and treated prominent Opposition MPs of the delegation which went to their places, made it clear that peace and progress of Kashmir is not what they desire. If the Union Government intends to act tough against them, they fully deserve it and have none else to blame except themselves for that.