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  India   Rajnath Singh heading for Mission J&K today

Rajnath Singh heading for Mission J&K today

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Aug 24, 2016, 2:01 am IST
Updated : Aug 24, 2016, 2:01 am IST

MHA: If separatist leaders want to meet minister, they can do so...

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the inauguration of the residential and administration block of 52 SAG NSG at Samalkha. PTI
 Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the inauguration of the residential and administration block of 52 SAG NSG at Samalkha. PTI

MHA: If separatist leaders want to meet minister, they can do so...

As the Kashmir Valley continues to see unprecedented turbulence for well over a month now, home minister Rajnath Singh along with his top officials, including home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, will visit the state on Wednesday, during which he will chair a crucial meeting of the Srinagar-based Unified Command. This is the second visit by the home minister to the Valley in about a month’s time.

During the two-day visit, the home minister will also interact with a cross-section of people from the Valley, though no formal invitation has been extended to the Hurriyat Conference for a meeting. “If the separatists want to meet the home minister during his Srinagar visit they can do so in a bid to defuse the ongoing tension in the Valley,” a senior home ministry official said.

The Centre, sources said, is concerned that incidents of stone-pelting and mob violence is still continuing, and as a deterrent the BSF has once again been deployed in Srinagar after a span of 12 years. The home minister will undertake a comprehensive security review at the meeting of the Unified Command, and if required the Centre may rush additional reinforcements as well.

Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the home minister have already expressed “deep concern and pain” over the situation in the Valley.

This will be Mr Singh’s second visit in a month to the Kashmir Valley, which has been witnessing large-scale violence since July 8 when Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter by the security forces.

So far 65 people, including two policemen, have been killed and several hundreds have been injured, mostly due to the use of pellet guns by the security forces. In a bid to reach out to the people in the Valley, the home minister has already reiterated that the Centre wants an “emotional relationship” with them. Mr Singh has also declared that the government will talk to whosoever needed once peace and normality is restored in the state.

“As far as the Government of India is concerned, I want to make it clear that we don’t just want need-based ties, but to build an emotional relationship with Kashmir,” the home minister had said earlier. In a meeting on Monday with the joint J&K Opposition delegation led by former chief minister Omar Abdullah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed his “deep concern and pain” over the situation and asked all political parties to work together to find a “permanent and lasting” solution to the problems of Jammu and Kashmir.

Army Chief Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag flew into Srinagar on Tuesday, a day ahead of the home minister’s visit, and asked the forces to exercise maximum possible restraint while dealing with mobs and to uphold human rights. He travelled to South Kashmir, the epicentre of the ongoing unrest, and was briefed by officials on the situation there.

“Following his previous visit only a month ago, the Chief of Army Staff was in the Valley again for a review of the security situation,” an Army official said. Accompanied by Northern Army Commander, Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, the Army Chief also visited formations on the Line of Control and units in North Kashmir.

He later visited the 15 Corps headquarters at Badami Bagh cantonment in Srinagar.

Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi