Srinagar: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday lashed out at Pakistan while holding it responsible for the ongoing unrest going on in the Jammu and Kashmir.
Jaitley, who reached Jammu today to address Bharatiya Janata Party's Tiranga Yatra, used the opportunity to hit out at the neighbouring country for their stand on terrorism and infiltration activities and said, 'Pakistan doesn't consider Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of India. In 1990, when they realised that they can't win in wars, they started infiltrating terrorists into the state of Jammu and Kashmir'.
"A new serious situation has arisen. Pakistan and various other forces are involved in it, and the country’s unity has been challenged once again," Jaitley said, adding that people of Jammu and Kashmir should jointly fight against this aggression.
"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, we have three clear priorities for Jammu and Kashmir. First is that there will be no compromise with the security of this nation and those who threaten with violence. Secondly, the focus is on the development the state, which the Congress and the National Conference refused to address for seven years. And third, as BJP has a stronghold in Jammu, Nirmal Singh should think about gathering resources from the Centre to contribute to the state`s development," Jaitley said.
Stating that Pakistan began to send terrorists to infiltrate into India after losing both the 1947 and the 1965 wars, Jaitley said that India had initially found it difficult to handle the situation but with time, overcame the hurdle.
"After 9/11, everyone's hatred toward terrorism intensified and the whole world believed that one can`t win through means of terrorism. Pakistan was told on an international scale to put an end to terrorism," he said.
"In Jammu, when the Amarnath revolution in began in 2008, 2010, they started a new trend of stone pelting. Kids would fill their school bags with stones instead of books and attack security forces. If a troop of 8-10 police personnel is attacked by 200 men with 10, 000 stones what else is that except an attack. But then the nation emerged from that as well," the Finance Minister said.
Talking the rampant state of violence in the Valley at present, Jaitley emphasised on the active involvement of Pakistan in the unrest, besides Separatists and divisive forces."And once again, in a new way, the unity of this nation has been attacked," he added.
"Raising slogans which advocate disintegration of the nation cannot be seen as freedom of speech," he said.
The development comes after the Jammu and Kashmir opposition submitted a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday over the unrest in the Valley stating that it needed a political solution and asserted that Pakistan was not solely responsible for the state of violence.
As many as 65 have been killed and thousands of civilians and security personnel reported injured in protest-related violence following the encounter of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8.
