Srinagar, Sep 15: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Additional General Secretary Dr Sheikh Mustafa Kamal on Friday said that the ground realities in J&K belie central and UT administration’s claims of peace and normalcy.
Expressing deep concern over the deteriorating security situation in J&K, Kamal said the recent spate of killings of high-ranking army and police jawans has called the Centre’s J&K policy into question. “We were told that normalcy will become ‘the new norm’ in J&K. Do killings of minorities qualify as the new normal? Is it normal that journalists and human rights activists continue to remain behind bars? Is it a new normal that our high-ranking & decorated police and army jawans are being killed? It was claimed that the priorities in the valley have changed towards the right direction, but the prevailing situation vis a vis employability, peace & stability and economy is at odds with what is being claimed by the ruling dispensations in Delhi & Srinagar,” he said.
Calling for a “course correction” in New Delhi’s Kashmir policy, Dr Kamal said, “It seems militancy has not been conquered yet. Attacks in J&K whether directed against the security forces or directed against the civilian population in J&K have continued all through. It’s only the propaganda of the Central government ably assisted by the same propaganda machinery in Jammu and Kashmir. It’s high time for the ruling dispensation in New Delhi to shun ostrich-like attitudes and make course corrections in its Kashmir policy.”
