MoS to militants: Quit terror during Ramzan

New Delhi: Taking recourse to the Holy Quran, minister of state in the PMO Jitendra Singh said militants in Kashmir should follow what the holy book preaches and shun violence during the month of Ramzan that will begin in mid-May.

“The holy month of Ramzan, according to the holy Quran, is a month of fasting where every pious Muslim is supposed to observe a very pious living without harming fellow beings, without indulging in violence and without indulging in anything evil or anything that hurts fellow beings. If at all, a demand has to be made it has to me made to the terrorists that like true Muslims as the true followers of the holy Quran and its teachings they should rather shun violence,” Mr Singh told this newspaper in an exclusive chat on Sunday.

Denying reports that the government is mulling an unilateral offer of Non-Initiation of Combat Operations (NICO) to the Kashmiri militants, Mr Singh, who is a BJP MP from Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur Lok Sabha seat, said: “There could be demands here and there and individual opinions emanating here or there, but these decision are taken by the Government of India, based on inputs received from the Union home ministry, external affairs ministry and the defence ministry. They have the prerogative to take decisions and it has been reiterated more than once by the home and the defence ministries that there is no such proposal in this regard.”

“Anybody can rise up to say anything to cater to his or her constituency but that doesn’t affect the discretion and wisdom of the decision-making process of the Union government… I don’t know how and where this wisdom has come from.”

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat recently told a national daily that while he is ready to “suspend” military operations to avoid civilian casualties in the state what is the guarantee that the militants won’t be firing at the Army and who would guarantee that policemen, political workers, etc are not attacked and killed.

On reports that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is worsening and at an unprecedented low as far as the public cooperation with the security forces battling militancy is concerned, Mr Singh said: “I don’t think so. On the contrary, for the first time after several decades there has been decisive action happening in Kashmir both within the borders and outside the borders. The militants are on the run and the manner in which the anti-militancy operations have been successfully conducted in the last one year or so is evidence in itself. I am sure militancy is going through its last phase.”

Since the killing of Kashmir militancy’s poster boy and Hizb-ul-Mujaheedin leader Burhan Wani’s death on July 9, 2016, the state has been on the boil even as the security forces launched a no-holds barred counter insurgency operation called “All-Out”. About 60 militants have been gunned down this year itself amid mounting civilian casualties even as increasing number of local youths are taking to the gun. About 300 militants are said to be active in the state.