Modi PoK-es Pakistan in the eye at all-party meet

Says will reach out to Kashmiris; parties back expose Pak move

NEW DELHI: The time has come to expose Pakistan’s brutalities on the people of Balochistan and Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday as the government launched a fresh offensive against Islamabad for fuelling the latest unrest in Kashmir.

The government found support from all major parties at a meeting called to discuss the violence in Kashmir that has left at least 59 people dead, most of them civilians, in the valley since July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

Modi said the government will reach out to the alley but added that Jammu, Ladakh and PoK should also be said in the same breath when talking about Kashmir, endorsing the views of Congress leader Karan Singh.

All parties unequivocally supported the government’s decision to aggressively expose Pakistan in international forums.

Modi and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj said the government will also get in touch with people who have fled PoK.

“Pakistan has forgotten that it bombards its own citizens from fighter planes. Time has come for Pakistan to give answer before the world on the atrocities committed against people in Balochistan and Pak-occupied Kashmir,” the PM said.

The government said an allparty delegation to the valley may be considered after the situation normalises.

“Political outreach is already happening. There will be no lowering of guard as far as security is concerned. Forces will act with restraint but terrorism and violence will be dealt with. We will try and ensure normalcy returns as fast as possible,” finance minister Arun Jaitley said after the meeting.

During the consultations, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Centre “must do everything to defuse the present tension and it should also be seen as a caring government.”

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad talked about the “brain drain” in Kashmir since 1990. “Not only Kashmiri Pandits left, but Muslim intelligentsia also fled, leaving a vaccum,” he said.

Trinamool’s Sudip Bandopadhyay felt that Kashmiri youth are in search of a new leadership.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with former PM Manmohan Singh and home minister Rajnath Singh along with others at the all-party meeting in New Delhi on Friday.