Rajnath embarks on Mission Kashmir to end 46-day agitation
MODI’S CUE PM’s conciliatory approach at meeting with state’s opposition leaders sets tone for home minister’s visit
NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: Union home minister Rajnath Singh will visit Kashmir on Wednesday for the second time in a month as the Centre stepped up efforts to end seven weeks of violence that has left 67 dead and over 10,000 injured.
Singh’s two-day visit follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with opposition leaders from Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.
Expressing “deep concern and pain” at the prolonged unrest, he asked them to convey his sentiments to the people that those who lost their lives were “part of us, our nation”, a remark seen as softening of the Centre’s approach towards protesters.
The PM’s conciliatory tone ahead of Singh’s visit to Kashmir raised expectations about the possibility of engagement with Hurriyat leaders. Home ministry sources, however, said Singh, accompanied by home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, will meet civil society members and the thrust of the visit will be on employment generation for Kashmiri youth.
“No one has contacted us officially or even through back channels,” moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told HT.
A day before Singh’s visit, separatists also upped the ante with the Mirwaiz writing to Pope Francis, Dalai Lama, Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi and many ambassadors seeking their help to find a solution to the problem, which “India and Pakistan cannot and are not able to do on their own”.
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