Kashmir will return to normalcy in a few days, says Rajnath Singh

NEW DELHI: Two months into the Kashmir unrest, home minister Rajnath Singh claimed on Tuesday that he was confident that normalcy would return to the Valley in the “next few days”, indicating that political groundwork is also underway to find a way forward by involving the people of Kashmir.

“Kashmir will return to normalcy in a few days. I am very confident of that. Main yeh bhi kah doon ki aage bhi rasta niklega aur Kashmir ke logon ko saath me le kar ke niklega (Let me also say we will find a way forward in which we will take the people of Kashmir along with us),” Singh told ET as he closely monitored the situation in the Valley on Bakrid.

The home minister said democracy provided enough avenues of conversation for some solution to emerge in the near future. “Jamooriyat mein kisi bhi problem ka solution baith kar ke nikala ja sakta hai. Ikathe baithenge to rasta niklega. (In democracy, we can always find a solution if we all sit together and find a way),” he added.

On the possibility of engaging the Hurriyat in any such conversation, Singh simply quipped: “MPs gaye to they (MPs did try to meet them)”.

He seemed to indicate that it was for the Hurriyat to decide on the course it wants to adopt. JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury had reached out to the Hurriyat during their visit as part of the all-party delegation in Srinagar. Syed Ali Shah Geelani had, however, refused to meet them.

Even as Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif dedicated Id-ul-Zuha on Tuesday to the “supreme sacrifices” of the Kashmiris in a message from Lahore, the home minister came out strongly saying “vested interests” were trying to take young people astray in Kashmir. “I feel very sad that vested interests are misguiding the youth in Kashmir. They are our children. And those who are playing with the future of our children are playing with the future of Kashmir,” Singh told ET.

The Centre has strengthened security presence in Kashmir amid reports that there were plans to hold a massive gathering at Lal Chowk. Army has also has been roped in a bigger way to deal with the situation.