“Kashmir is ours, Kashmiris are ours and Kashmiriyat is also ours,” Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday, asserting that the Modi government will find a “permanent solution” to the Kashmir problem.
The Home Minister’s assertion came amid continued unrest in the Kashmir Valley. Addressing a public reception here, Mr. Singh accused Pakistan of fomenting trouble in Kashmir. “But I want to tell all of you that our government will find a permanent solution to the Kashmir issue,” he said, without elaborating.
Hope for change
The Minister deplored the fact that was no change in the “attitude” of Pakistan which wanted to “destabilise” India. “We hope that Pakistan will change. If it does not change, we will have to change them. After globalisation, one country can’t destabilise another country as the international community will not forget it,” he said.
Unrest has continued in Kashmir since the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in an encounter in July last year.
There has been an unprecedented involvement of students in the protests, with even girls taking to the streets to fight pitched battles with security forces. Around 80 people have lost their lives in the prolonged violence.
Mr. Singh said heads of government of all neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, had been invited to the swearing-in ceremony of the Modi government in 2014 in an indication that India wanted friendly relations with them.
Security reviewed
The Home Minister is on a three-day visit to Sikkim during which he attended a conference of Himalayan States to review the security situation and development activities along the Sino-Indian border.
He also visited the Nathu La border post, besides a few posts of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and SSB along the Sino-India and Indo-Nepal borders respectively.
