Team News Riveting
Srinagar, October 25
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday lashed out at National Conference President Farooq Abdullah for suggesting talks with Pakistan and said the government would rather talk to the youth of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Union Home Minister, who is on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir—his first since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019—remotely inaugurated several development projects and laid the foundation stone of some.
“I read in newspapers that Farooq Abdullah has suggested that the government should talk to Pakistan. He has a right to his opinion but we would rather talk to the Kashmiri youth,” Shah said while addressing a function at the Sheri Kashmir International Convention Centre in Srinagar. Shah said that those who advocate talks with Islamabad and separatists should be asked what Pakistan had done in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“Compare the development between this side and PoK. Do they have electricity, roads, healthcare, and toilets. There is nothing (on the other side). You (Kashmiris) have the same rights as any other Indian,” Shah said.
Without naming the Congress, the National Conference, and the Peoples’ Democratic Party, the Union Minister said while only three medical colleges were set up by the “three families which have ruled Jammu and Kashmir”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ensured seven new medical colleges and these are coming up.
He sought the cooperation of the people to realise this dream. “It is only the youth of Jammu and Kashmir who can work towards achieving this goal,” he said.
Asserting that the government is aiming to wipe out terrorism from Jammu and Kashmir and put an end to civilian killings, Shah said nobody would be allowed to disrupt peace and development in the Union Territory, which has a special place in Prime Minister Modi’s heart.
