J&K governor advises militants to shun violence; assures rehabilitation

Jammu, January 14

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Monday advised militants to shun the path of violence, assuring that his administration is ready to do whatever it could for their rehabilitation.

“There is nothing like ‘operation all out’ and some people are using this wrong term. We want these children (militants) to come back and we are ready to do what we can do for them,” Malik told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

He was replying to a question on the call by some politicians to stop ‘operation all out’ and an inquiry into the killings in the Kashmir Valley.

“When a terrorist somewhere opens fire or hurls an explosive, it cannot be like this: you will fire and we will give you flowers and bouquets. On our side, we do not have any ‘operation all out’. They (militants) should leave this path as they will achieve nothing from this. There is nothing like ‘operation all out’,” Malik said.

On National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah’s statement that if his party is elected to power in the upcoming Assembly polls, it would establish a truth and reconciliation commission to probe killings in the state, Malik said he is stating something new every day. “He is a senior politician, so commenting on him is not good,” the governor added.

Malik said mainstream politicians had political compulsions and “in our country one can go to any extent for a vote”.

“They are all political people and have political compulsions. For a vote, the people go too far in this country. I understand the compulsions of everybody and honour them,” he said when asked about statements made by some politicians recently. On the assembly polls in the state, the governor said his administration is ready for the democratic exercise.

“We are ready for polls and when the Election Commission decides, we will hold the elections,” the governor said.

Meanwhile, Malik inaugurated a musical fountain and an open-air gymnasium constructed by the Jammu and Kashmir Bank at Rajinder Singh Park here.

“We are being demonised across the country that everything here is wrong. But I can say with authority that Jammu and Kashmir is far ahead with many of the states in the country and the J&K Bank is one such institution which is doing good,” Malik said.

He suggested the bank to concentrate on providing easy loans to artisans and workers and said it had the ability to uplift the weaker sections of society. PTI