NEW DELHI – Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday said thegovernment’s “muscular militaristic approach” won’t help in solvingproblems in Kashmir.
He also came out in support of Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra forsaying that the rules of engagement for handling conflicts calls forrestraint.
“The fundamental flaw is the belief that a muscular militaristic approachwill lead to a solution in Kashmir,” Chidambaram tweeted.
“Governor Vohra is absolutely right when he said that rules of engagementfor handling internal conflicts called for ‘restraint’, he added.
The former home minister also hit out at Jammu and Kashmir Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti for saying that people in her state “are fleeing theirhomes, schools are closed and children are caged in their homes”.
“Did she not know this will be the result of a misguided policy?”Chidambaram asked.
On January 7, 2018, too, he had hit out at the Centre for failing torestore peace in the Kashmir Valleylink>andhad said that Modi government`s “hard, muscular and militaristic” approachhad failed to end militancy in the state.
Chidambaram had quoted statistics to say that the number of civilians andterrorists killed in Jammu and Kashmir had almost doubled from 28 to 57 andfrom 110 to 218 from 2014 to 2017 respectively.
“If you are one of those who had thought that the hard, muscular,militaristic approach of the government should be given a chance, you maychange your view,” he had said.
The Congress had leader added that wisdom lay in actively working towards apolitical solution to the issues of J&K, where a separatist campaign ragingsince 1989 has claimed thousands of lives.
“Both AB Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh will be remembered for the diligentefforts to find a solution to the issue”, Chidambaram had said.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday that India hadshown it can attack its enemies not only on its soil, but also in a foreignterritory, if need be.