Srinagar: Despite the mild drama at Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s residence that threatened to overtake the Centre’s rather conciliatory message to Kashmiris, home minister Rajnath Singh did his best to reach out to Kashmiris on the second day of his second trip to Kashmir in a month, and succeeded.
Ms Mufti, who was in a rather combative mood, criticised the stone-pelters. “Stone-throwing will not end Kashmir’s problems. We have to reach out to those who want peace,” she said, adding that only five per cent people were creating trouble and “95 per cent of people want an end to the crisis”.
But she soon lost her cool, when asked by a journalist if she had not only swapped roles but also views with her predecessor Omar Abdullah on protests. To this, the CM asserted that violence since July could in no way be compared to the disaffection Kashmiris had expressed in 2010 when they had valid reasons to do so.
“There was a reason for 2010, Shopian (alleged rapes by security personnel) happened, innocents were being targeted by security officers. Don’t you confuse that situation with what is happening now. The young man setting a police station on fire now cannot be compared with someone being shot at while going out to buy milk or toffee,” she said, and stood up abruptly to leave.
