Kashmir violence: Home Minister Rajnath Singh meets Imams

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Rajnath Singh today met a group of Imams who urged him to help restore calm in the Kashmir Valley which is witnessing turmoil following the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani.

The Imams told Singh that they would be meeting Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and local clerics of the state in an attempt to help bring calm in the Valley.

"We had detailed discussions with the Home Minister on the prevailing situation in Kashmir. We have urged him to ensure that calm and peace returns to the Valley. Just like Muslims from any other part of the country, Kashmiris are also our brothers. We are with them and appeal them to bring normalcy and peace," Umer Ahmed Ilyasi of All India Organisation of Imams of Mosques said after the meeting.

He said a group of Imams will be meeting the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and also Imams in the Valley to ensure peace and calm is restored as quickly as possible.

Ilyasi said they are opposed to any kind of terrorism in any part of the world.

"We are talking about Kashmir but not Kashmiris. It is time that we take forward dialogue with Kashmiris," he said.

Yesterday, the Home Minister reached out to opposition leaders including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Parliamentary leaders of all parties, and discussed the prevailing situation there.