Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that Kashmir would be normal soon. He said there was no blockade in Jammu and Kashmir and restrictions existed only in “certain minds.”
“There is no curfew anywhere in 196 police stations in J&K. Restrictions under Section 144 Cr.PC, that prohibits assembly of more than four people and political processions, is imposed in eight police stations. Landlines are functional, in fact after August 5, as many as 6,200 new PCOs were opened,” said Mr. Shah. He added that J&K would be the most developed State in the next 10 years.
He was addressing a function organised by Samkalp Former Civil Servants Forum at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) in Delhi.
‘Himalayan blunder’
Accusing former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of mishandling the Kashmir issue, Mr. Shah said that he committed a “Himalayan blunder” by approaching the United Nations on the subject.
“No telephone is not violation of human rights, the death of more than 41,000 people in J&K due to Article 370 is. Why can’t the champions of human rights see the pain of the widows of security forces who were killed in J&K all these years?” Mr. Shah said.
Severe restrictions, including communication blockade, continue in Kashmir Valley since August 5 when Mr. Shah moved two Bills in the Rajya Sabha to revoke the special status of J&K under Article 370 and bifurcate the State into two Union Territories (UT).
Mr. Shah claimed that “8-10-year-old girls” were married off in Kashmir as the Child Marriage Act which prohibits marriage for girls before 18 years was not applicable in J&K due to Article 370. “As many as 106 Central laws were not applicable in J&K....the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) came into existence only after August 5,” Mr. Shah claimed.
The ACB in J&K was, however, established on October 27, 2018 after the State Administrative Council under Governor Satyapal Malik gave the nod. The State is at present under President’s rule, and as per the J&K reorganisation Act, 2019, passed by Parliament on August 6, it will become a UT on October 31.
