As part of the Centre’s outreach programme, Home Minister Rajnath Singh is expected to visit Jammu and Kashmir from September 9 to 11.
This is his first visit after leading an all-party delegation to Srinagar when unrest broke out in Kashmir in 2016.
Mr. Singh will visit Jammu, Srinagar and Leh and meet civil society members, leaders of political and social organisations, business leaders and others, the official said.
During his interactions, he Minister will receive people’s representations on how to bring lasting peace in the Valley. He will meet Governor N.N. Vohra, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and civil and security officials.
The visit comes about three weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said bullets or abuses will not resolve the Kashmir issue and it can only be addressed by embracing every Kashmiri.
The Home Minister himself said on August 19 that a solution to the Kashmir problem, besides terrorism, Naxalism and the northeast insurgency, would be found before 2022.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who heads the Congress’s policy planning group on Kashmir, will lead a team of party leaders to Jammu and Kashmir next week for discussions with party workers and “like-minded” groups.
A group of citizens, led by former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha, visited the State from August 17 to 19 and prepared a report which said the sense of “dismay and despondency” had grown among the people and the situation was “much worse” than during their previous visits.
Pellet guns
An official said use of pellet guns against protesters had sharply declined in the Valley. While 777 such incidents were reported in 14 districts in 2016, the number had come down to 143 till July 31 this year.
When 15 civilians were killed and 396 injured in various incidents where pellet guns were used in 2016, only one civilian was killed and 36 were injured this year.
Most incidents occurred after July 8, 2016 when Hizbul Mujahideen “commander” Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces.
Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian, the four south Kashmir districts, recorded only 35 incidents this year as against 162 last year.
“Shopian reported 90 incidents last year, but this year only 18 have occurred. Similarly in Anantnag, where 30 incidents were reported in 2016, only four have occurred this year. Pulwama reported 41 incidents in 2016 and this year it came down to 12,” the official said.
In Srinagar, the incidents came down from 191 to 58 this year. In Baramulla and Sopore, 102 and 124 incidents were reported respectively in 2016; this year, the number came down to eight and one, the official said.
The government had come under sharp criticism for the use of pellet guns. An all-party delegation had called for the complete withdrawal of pellet guns.
