New Delhi, Jul 29:
Union Minister Jitendra Singh Monday said the deployment of an additional 10,000 security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir was part of a security drill and blamed the National Conference (NC) and the PDP for “creating noise” over it. The minister said “noise” is being created by the NC, the PDP and others as they can feel that they are losing the people’s mandate. The additional deployment is for security arrangement… They (the political parties) have been carrying forward their legacy with 8-10 per cent voter turnout. They are scared that if the situation changes their sovereignty built in the last 30-40 years will come to an end,” he told reporters here when asked about the recent deployment of 10,000 additional troops in Jammu and Kashmir. The Narendra Modi government has taken action against alleged corruption in the J&K Bank and big names are about to come up in connection with the alleged scam, Singh said. “Many big names will come when the investigation will be completed. These parties are worried for their interests and they know that they will be exposed. They are distressed about that,” he said. The Centre had recently announced that 100 more companies (10,000 personnel) of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) would be sent to the state. The government had said the troops were being deployed to strengthen the counter-insurgency grid and law and order duties in the Kashmir Valley.
Speculation is also rife that the Centre may have plans to do away with Article 35A, which gives exclusive rights to the state’s residents in government jobs and land.
These speculation have dominated the discourse in Kashmir over the past few days. The mainstream political parties have, however, vowed to resist any such move to tinker with the state’s special status.
As uncertainty loomed in the Valley, mainstream political parties have started their efforts to seek clarity from the Centre with National Conference president Farooq Abdullah requesting for an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti tweeted: “In light of recent developments that have caused a sense of panic amongst people in J&K, I’ve requested Dr Farooq Abdullah sahab to convene an all party meeting. Need of the hour is to come together & forge a united response. We the people of Kashmir need to stand up as one”.
