Whoever follows the middle path in Kashmir is targeted, says Union minister

NEW DELHI: All those who have tried to walk the middle path in Kashmir have met with a similar fate as journalist Shujaat Bukhari, Union minister of state in the PMO and MP from Jammu’s Udhampur, Jitendra Singh said on Sunday, while blaming Pakistan-sponsored agencies for the murder.

Singh said what happened to Bukhari was not an isolated case, and named Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq (father of separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq) and Abdul Ghani Lone as people from the state who were targeted by Pakistan over the years for speaking with equanimity.

Defending the decision to resume military operations, Singh said: “We cannot lose sight of the fact that the entire disturbance is being sponsored by a hostile foreign power. If it was an indigenous movement, it would be different. But it is

Pakistan.”

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Udhampur and Union minister Jitendra Singh described the Centre’s decision to end the pause in military operations in Jammu and Kashmir as a judicious one in an interview with Rajesh Ahuja and Moushumi Das Gupta, and said the immediate priority was to ensure that the upcoming Amaranth Yatra was peaceful. Excerpts:

Why did the government not extend the ceasefire?

I am sure the home ministry has taken cognisance of all the reports and then taken a judicious decision but let’s not forget that the immediate priority is to ensure that the upcoming Amarnath Yatra concludes peacefully. That is the responsibility of the government, and of course, of society. The Amarnath Yatra is not only a holy pilgrimage for Hindus, it is actually a symbol of India’s composite culture. We have a huge stake in ensuring the success of this Yatra and ensuring that no mischief happens.

Seventeen years ago, when the ceasefire was last implemented, it was extended three times. Did the Vajpayee government show more staying power?

No, the context changed, the situation changed. The review of the security situation on sensitive issues is done on a day-to-day basis. What is best in the interest of the nation and best, keeping in mind the priorities and concerns of the people, has been done and has been done.

What were the gains from the ceasefire?

As a noble gesture, maybe the government sent out a message that if you are a pious Muslim, you are observing Roza, then as good human beings, we will cooperate with you. But if you yourself are not faithful to your religion, to the sanctity of the fast that you are observing, where it is mandatory that you don’t think evil, you don’t harm anybody. But if you don’t observe that discipline, if you are not faithful to yourself, nothing prevents me from protecting myself. I think those who have not stuck to the sanctity of Ramzan stand fully exposed.

Did the killing of journalist Shujaat Bukhari and rifleman Aurangzeb hasten the government’s decision?

I don’t think I am in a position to respond to that because these are very sensitive issues that the home ministry decides depending on the inputs.

But of course, it’s a cumulative outcome of all the inputs received.

Are you disappointed that the Hurriyat did not respond favourably to the government offer of peace talks?

I have been watching the scene very closely for the last 30 years -- from the time when there was no militancy to the advent of militancy to now. The Hurriyat is nothing but a bunch of people who are trying to play politics by other means. Many of them are former mainstream politicians, they have contested elections, and they are drawing pensions as ex-legislators. When they did not succeed in the mainstream, they got into this. This is separatism by convenience, not conviction. They only talk of having a talk but they don’t mean to talk. They would always say nobody is talking to us but, if you catch them head on, they don’t wish to talk. The Hurriyat does not want to engage in talks because the moment it does that would be the end of its politics.

Do you think the Shujaat’s killing was timed to engineer the demise of ceasefire?

Any activist in Kashmir -whether from the journalist fraternity or political fraternity -- if they tried to work out a middle path, they had to run through this fate. Shujaat tried to find a middle path, which also was done by some of the political activists like Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq. It was also done by Abdul Ghani Lone. I am not talking in terms of stature but in terms of the strategy being followed by Pakistan -whenever it finds some activists who try walk on some middle path, they (Pakistan) try to get him

out of the scene.