Return home, PM asks ‘misguided’ J&K youth

Tribune News Service

Leh/Srinagar/Jammu, May 19

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged the misguided youths in Kashmir to return to the mainstream and contribute to the development and progress of the country, as he unequivocally declared that development alone was the key to solving all problems that plagued Jammu and Kashmir.

Modi’s pitch for peace and his appeal to stone-throwers and youths wielding the gun came in his centrepiece speech in Srinagar on the second leg of his day-long visit to the state, during which he touched all three regions — Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu —  either inaugurating or laying stones of projects worth Rs 25,000 crore.

The PM delivered a powerful message in Srinagar where he commissioned the 330-MW Kishanganga hydro-electric project. He said the “recent decision on Ramzan ceasefire preceded by withdrawal of cases against thousands of students (charged with stone-throwing) was to mainstream misguided youths, as also to expose external forces instigating terrorism to make those wielding the gun and stone-throwers to inflict wounds on their motherland”. 

The appeal comes against the backdrop of the Union Government’s announcement to halt all anti-militancy operations in the state during the holy month of Ramzan. The PM pleaded with the “misguided” youths to return to the mainstream, which he interpreted as “return to their families and parents”, to give a push to the development process.

The developmental theme was woven from his first stopover in the cold desert region of Ladakh, where he laid the foundation stone of the Rs 6,800-crore Zojila tunnel, expected to be Asia’s longest at a height of nearly 12,000 feet, while in Srinagar he inaugurated the Kishanganga project.

In Jammu, he inaugurated a new track leading to the Vaishno Devi cave shrine and kickstarted work for the Srinagar Ring Road, besides laying the foundation of the largest-ever hydro power project, Pakal Dul, with a 1,000 MW capacity, in Kishtwar district.

Speaking passionately on the importance of “Kashmiriyat”, PM Modi said former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a fan of the concept, “and so is Modi”. He said the 125 crore population of the country was working towards the “New India concept” and hoped that the people of J&K would become a part of it. 

Cautioning against those indulging in violence under the garb of Islam, he said the only way to resolve issues was talks — an obvious reference to the Centre’s special representative, Dineshwar Sharma.

Governor NN Vohra, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, state and Central ministers were among those present.