Not all Kashmiri students pelt stones, says Mehbooba Mufti

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday alleged that a section of national media, particularly TV channels, are painting all Kashmiri youth with same brush while reporting on the stone-pelting incidents in the Valley. She alleged that by doing it they are spreading hatred against the people of Kashmir.

“The national media is portraying and branding all Kashmiri youth as stone-pelters. I request them to stop it and also not to show such discussion on television that develop hatred against the people of Jammu and Kashmir throughout the country,” she said while speaking to reporters on the reopening of the government offices in summer capital Srinagar following the bi-annual “Durbar Move”.

She asserted, “Most of the youth don’t pelt stones. Only few do it and not all.”

Meanwhile, fresh student protests have been reported from several area of the Valley, including Tral and Newa in Pulwama district, Budgam in Budgam district, Sopore in Baramulla district and Langaet in Kupwara district. In subsequent clashes between protesting students and the police several people were injured, reports said.

Ms Mufti said that instead of seeing every Kashmiri as a stone-pelter, the nation should try to know how the youth of the Valley have won laurels in every sphere of life. “If all they had done was sloganeering and hurling stones, so many of our children would not have achieved what they actually did in recently held examinations,” she said.

She reiterated, “Our youth perform very well in each and every competitive examination held at national level. They have the potential to prove their metal in rest of the country.” She said that all the sections of society, including the media, have to play their part in restoring peace and normalcy in the Valley.

She evaded answering a question about her recent assertion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the “only hope” left as he alone could resolve the complex issue of Kashmir and take its people out of the quagmire but said that J&K is the soul and the crown of India.

“I know Kashmir issue is serious but I don’t believe there is anything which cannot be resolve,” she said, adding, “Everyone is concerned with the situation in Kashmir Valley right now. But, this is not the first time that the Valley is facing such a situation. Since 1947, there are many instances when the State was going through very tough times.”

Without naming Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah or his comrades who led the plebiscite movement, she said that for  22 years (1953-75) leaders of the State were fighting for self-determination but then they realised that talks are the only solution to issue. “So Indira-Sheikh accord was done (1975). Then there was militancy during 1990s. Now, again we have been confronted with a serious situation. But I believe that peace and normalcy will be restored in the Valley soon. Everyone has to play a role,” she said.

In the backdrop of the alleged harassment of Kashmiris and recent attacks on students from the Valley in some parts of the country, she said, “The people of the state have the right not only on J&K, but on the rest of the country”.

Leader of regional Awami Itehad Party and Independent MLA Sheikh Abdur Rashid was along with several activists detained by the police after he tried to gherao the Civil Secretariat here on the opening of the Durbar. Rashid said that he and others wanted to lodge their protest over the use of “brute” force  against the student community during past two weeks, other human rights violation and “growing RSS control over administration particularly the Civil Secretariat”.