Yechury expresses concern over Kashmir situation, faults govt

Ravi S.Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 17

CPI (M) chief Sitaram Yechury on Monday expressed concern over deteriorating conditions in the Kashmir Valley and attributed it to the faulty policy of Union government regarding the state.

He pitched for government engaging all stakeholders in Kashmir to thrash out a durable peace.

"It is unfortunate that seven civilians have been killed in the firing by security forces on unarmed protesters. This is unacceptable," Yechury said referring to the civilian deaths at the site of encounter between security forces and terrorist in south Pulwama on Saturday.

Large crowds had reportedly descended at the encounter site in support of the terrorists during the operations by the security forces.

The situation in Kashmir was discussed by CPI(M)'s Central Committee (CC) during it two-day meeting here, which concluded yesterday.

"Killing terrorists is understandable, but killing of civilians in unacceptable," Yechury said.

"Over 300 civilians have died in the last three years. Unfortunately, no inquiry has been conducted into these deaths and no one responsible has been held accountable. This situation will only led to further alienation of the people," he added.

He charged that the BJP is interest in the continuation of the situation to aid its larger political agenda of communal polarisation in view of the general elections. 

He said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had led an all-party delegation to the state to talk to a cross-section of the people to explore measures to bring normalcy in the state.

After the delegation's visit, it was decided to engage local populace as part of confidence-building measures. The government did not take the matter to the logical conclusion, Yechury added.