If separatists want azaadi, they should make their children pelt stones: MoS Jitendra Singh slams Hurriyat

While condemning the recent incidents of violence in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Dr. Jitendra Singh on Thursday accused the separatists for instigating the youth in the Valley.
Singh said that separatists have kept their children in safe havens and are fueling local children to destabilize situation in Kashmir. He also reiterated the governments' view that Pakistan is equally responsible for the disturbance in Srinagar where it instigates the youth through the platform of social media.

'Certainly there are people who support Pakistan and Pakistan is also indulged in propagating such sort of agenda. We have also got information that whenever an encounter starts in the Valley, Pakistan starts propagating against us through the medium of social media, due to which the youth get instigated and put their lives at risk by reaching the site of encounter,' Singh told the media.

The Union Minister assured that they will successfully expose the real face of the separatists in front of the people of Kashmir. 'The government and the society will be successful in making these people understand. We will be able to make them understand that the people who are instigating them have kept their children in safe places. Many Kashmir leaders want their children to hold administrative posts and instigate the children of Kashmir to become stone-pelters,' he said.

'Time has come for the Kashmir youth to demand that is this is real jehad, which is so important then the Kashmir leaders should set example by first making their children stone-pelters,' he added.
Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) S. P. Vaid met Jitendra Singh yesterday and held a detailed discussion with him about the prevailing situation in Kashmir, in the aftermath of yesterday's violence in Budgam which resulted in the death of three civilians and injuries to other locals, as well as security personnel.

Singh said that it is the responsibility of both the administration as well as the civil society to make the youth of Kashmir understand the reality, instead of getting instigated by the false propaganda by a handful few. Lauding the role of security forces including the Army, Para-military and Jammu & Kashmir Police, the Union Minister said that India stands among the best forces in the world and the nation is eternally indebted to them.

Fumed by the recent violence in Budgam, which witnessed and encounter and incidents of stone pelting, in which three civilians were killed and 60 security personnel were injured, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has slammed the separatist leaders for their hypocrisy, saying that they are pushing the youth of the Valley into this conflict while their own children are kept in safe places. 

He asked the civil society and Jammu and Kashmir government to make the youths understand the reality, instead of getting instigated by false propaganda by few people.

"Pakistani agencies are using social media to instigate youths of Kashmir Valley through false propaganda in social media. I would appeal the youths there not to get carried away by such propaganda," the Minister told reporters.

His assertion comes as normal life in Kashmir Valley had been affected for past few days allegedly by some separatist leaders to protest the killing of civilians there during a clash with security forces.

Singh, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office, said these separatists are doing the politics of convenience. "There are leaders who want to instigate the youths of Kashmir Valley to indulge in activities like stone pelting and violence. But these very leaders want their own children to become IAS and IPS officers. They want their children to study in good school. I feel that these leaders are doing the politics of convenience," he said. 

Jammu and Kashmir police chief S P Vaid had also met Singh, a Lok Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur constituency, and apprised him about the security situation in the Valley. The duo held a detailed discussion about the prevailing situation in Kashmir, in the aftermath of recent violence which resulted in the death of three persons and injuries to others, as well as to the security personnel. The Minister said that it is the responsibility of both the administration as well as the civil society to make the youth of Kashmir understand the reality.