Govt may airlift injured from Valley
Rajnath Singh sounded out informal offer to send two aircraft Home ministry weighing pros and cons
The Union home ministry is examining the pros and cons of sending two aircrafts to bring the injured from Kashmir valley to the national capital for treatment in its many hospitals.
This is being seen as an assuaging move designed to apply balm to the victims in the long spell of 50 days of unabated protests and stone- pelting in the Valley.
Although the offer has been informally sounded out, certain concerns hold it back.
“The home minister, Rajnath Singh, has already made such an offer through informal channels. But no formal offer has yet been made because one doesn’t know how this offer will be received by the people in the Valley and whether the injured are at all keen to avail this offer,” said a source.
The Union home ministry is examining the pros and cons of sending two aircrafts to bring the injured from Kashmir valley to the national capital for treatment in its many hospitals.
This is being seen as an assuaging move designed to apply balm to the victims in the long spell of 50 days of unabated protests and stone- pelting in the Valley following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani on July 9.
Although the offer has been informally sounded out, certain concerns hold it back. “The home minister, Rajnath Singh, has already made such an offer through informal channels. But no formal offer has yet been made because one doesn’t know how this offer will be received by the people in the Valley and whether the injured are at all keen to avail this offer,” said a source familiar with the development.
While the government is extending its reach to the common people in the Valley by proposing to airlift the injured, there is skepticism as to how many would actually accept the Centre’s proposal considering the fact that the separatists and other hardliners still continue to have a strong hold over the public. It is also likely that the hardliners would thwart any possible attempts that the governments, both at the Centre and the state, may make to bridge the existing divide between the public and the administration.
While the government is extending its reach to the common people in the Valley, there is skepticism as to how many would actually accept the Centre’s proposal
“A comprehensive compensation package for the affected Kashmiris is also being held back on similar grounds as is the possibility that many false claims may also come up,” the source added. More than 69 people have been killed in the latest spell of violence, with more than 50 being reported from south Kashmir, and about 5,800 civilians have been accounted injured, with about 400 critically so. Most of the injuries are due to pellets fired by the security forces in selfdefence and to control the rampaging mobs. About 2,600 security forces personnel have also sustained injuries. As part of a sign of the government’s utmost inclination to address the Kashmir issue, a Track II diplomacy effort has already been launched and there have been many meetings between top government representatives and people familiar with the Kashmir issue seeking the latter’s advice and suggestions. “The government has also been reviewing and revisiting two important documents — the 2009 report of the Joint Working Group ( JWG) on Kashmir and the 2011 report of the three interlocutors Dileep Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar and M M Ansari.”
While these two reports made far- reaching recommendations to inch towards resolving the Kashmir issue, nothing much has been implemented on the ground. Interestingly, one of the five panels for the JWG report was headed by the present vice- president Mohammad Hamid Ansari while the present finance minister, Arun Jaitley, and the present J& K chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, were members for the panel on Centre- state relations. Even while the home ministry may re- visit the recommendations of the JWG and the three- member interlocutors, it seems unlikely that the Centre may dilute its current stand on either partial dilution or lifting of the contentious AFSPA from parts of the Valley.