Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, Jun 8 :
India wants good relations with all its neighbour, but Pakistan needs to take initiative and stop using it soil for promoting terrorism against India, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today.
“As far as Pakistan is concerned, it is our neighbouring country. We want good relations with all our neighbours,” Singh told a press conference here.
The Union Minister said that Pakistan needs to make efforts in this direction. “It should take the initiative by stopping use of its soil for aiding and promoting terrorism (against India),” he said.
He was replying a question on the possibility of resuming peace talks with Pakistan in the backdrop of a purported IB report detailing ISI plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Replying to another question with regard to security of Amarnath yatra in the backdrop of Ramzan ceasefire, Singh said that for “peaceful people, the month of Ramzan is very pious month. The PM had announced ceasefire so that they do not face any difficulty during Ramzan”.
He said the government will review the security situation and will talk to others stakeholders. “Whatever will be right, will be done,” he said.
Replying to another question on whether the BJP had “surrendered” before ally PDP on the issue of ceasefire and was going soft towards separatists, Singh reiterated that “for talks, there is need for people to be right minded and not like minded”.
Singh also said that the Centre had taken up with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti the issue of FIRs against security persons.
Asked whether the government will withdraw the cases against security forces in Kashmir Valley, who are often confronted by stone pelting mobs, as they have given amnesty to stone pelters in Kashmir, he said, “Amnesty was given earlier. We have talked to chief minister in this direction (withdrawal of FIR against security force personnel)”.
Asked whether his 5C formula announced in September 2017 during his visit to Kashmir has yielded any result, he indicated that the situation had improved considerably.
“The movement, which is seen in other parts of the country, was witnessed by me on the roads of Kashmir and people in large numbers responded to me. At the sports stadium, 5,000 people had gathered, in which there were locals too and it was very peaceful”, he said.
In September 2017, during his visit to Kashmir, Singh had said: Our government is keen for the permanent solution of the Kashmir problem and I want to implement a five- point programme which could be called as 5-Cs ; compassion , communication , co-existence , confidence building measures and consistency .
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that the Maoists are
India wants……
fighting a lost battle and urged them to shun violence and come to the mainstream of development.
The Home Minister made these remarks while speaking at an event in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara.
Singh said that out of 135 districts affected by Maoist violence, only 10 districts remained “worst hit”, asserting that there had been a considerable fall in left-wing extremism in the country.
He stressed that the Maoists, extremists and terrorists were fighting a losing battle.
“As far as the Maoists are concerned, they are fighting a lost battle. Extremism by Maoists has shown a significant decrease ( in the country),” Singh said at a press conference here.
The Home Minister said that the Maoist influence was spread across 135 districts of the country.
“Now it has come down to 90 districts. This is the achievement of our four years of rule and if we go further in describing it, only ten districts have been left where there is a high influence of Maoists,” he said.
On being asked about reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on the radar of such extremists, Singh said, “We are very cautious about the security of our prime minister”.
The senior BJP leader added that the north-east has also seen a dip in extremist activities.
He said there has been 85 percent decrease in extremism in the northeast.
Singh, who reached Jammu and Kashmir yesterday for a two-day visit, also visited the border belts of Kupwara and RS Pura.
He also addressed a sports conclave in Srinagar.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh said that nine new Battalions will be constituted out of which two will be especially for the youth living in border areas of the state. He said that the Ministry has sanctioned two new women battalions for J&K police one for Kashmir Division and for Jammu Division that would provide employment to around 2000 women from the state.He further added that the border youth would be provided 60 percent quota in special five IRP battalions. He was addressing a press conference today in Jammu on the second day of his visit to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Reiterating government’s commitment to safeguard the interests of border people and Kashmir migrants in Jammu and Kashmir, Shri Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said that Centre is fully aware of the hardships faced by these people and has been taking a number of initiatives to address them.He also informed that the Ministry has revisited the scheme of giving Rs 5 lakhs for the persons killed during Cross Border Firing and Ceasefire Violations. Now this amount of Rs 5 Lakhs will be directly credited to the account of Next of Kin and all conditions relating to fixed deposit have been removed, the Home Minister said. He said that 14, 460 bunkers will be constructed, which includes 13,029 individual and 1,431 community bunkers. The MHA has approved Rs.415 crores for their construction, he added.He further said that government is contemplating construction of Seema-Bhawans for the safety of border people.
While addressing media persons at Jammu ShriRajnath Singh said that the Government has decided to give financial assistance of Rs 5.5 lakh per family for West Pakistan Refugees settled in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Nearly 5764 families will be benefitted from this decision, he added. He also said that the relief given to Kashmiri and Jammu migrants that was increased to Rs 10,000 in year 2015, has now been increased to Rs 13000 per family per month, thus resulting into a hike of 30%.
He also said that an Advisory board for migrants would be constituted to look into the problems being faced by the them that would have representation from all the migrant groups.
The Home Minister also spoke about the recent decisions taken by the Ministry regarding the compensation for live-stock that has been increased to Rs. 50,000 from Rs. 30,000 presently and that the limit of three animals has been removed for losses incurred upon livestock.
Union Home Minister also visited the border area of R S Pura in Jammu region and interacted with the families affected by cross border firing and ceasefire violations. Responding to demands of the farmers of the area, the Home Minister assured that PradhanMantriFasalBimaYojna in the border areas would also have the special provision for the crop destroyed in cross border shelling.He also visited the district police lines and paid tributes to the martyrs of Jammu and Kashmir police force.
Earlier in the day, the Minister also visited the border district of Kupwara and interacted with the local people living near border areas. He was accompanied by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ms.Mehbooba Mufti and Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh.
