Rajnath reaches out to opposition, Valley remains tense
New Delhi : Sensing the gravity of the situation in the Valley, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, who was accompanying Prime Minister Modi on his four-nation tour of African countries, has been rushed home.
Doval, who is regularly taking stock of the developments in the Valley with officials, said, “If there are problems, there are solutions. We are quite confident & competent of finding solutions.” On his return on Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Modi is expected to review the situation at a cabinet committee meeting.
The situation in all the ten districts in the Valley remained tense and the death toll in the violent clashes has mounted to 23. The border state has been in turmoil since Friday when
22 year old Burhan Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen commander, was killed in a security operation. Since then normal life is paralysed due to curfew-like restrictions and separatist-sponsored arson, violence and stone pelting incidents.
Mobs torched a police station in Sopore on Monday and targeted the air force airport in Pulwama along with other security installations in Kashmir. Stone pelting incidents were reported from Sopore, Handwara, Bandipora and Baramulla in north Kashmir. A total of 800 additional personnel from the central paramilitary forces are also being rushed to Jammu and Kashmir. The reinforcements will be in addition to 1,200 personnel sent to assist the state police on Saturday.
Meanwhile, in an effort to reach out to opposition parties, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh interacted with political leaders, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Later, Omar said that he has told the Centre that violence in the Valley will not end until the security forces exercise maximum restraint and stop killing protesters.
