KL Report
SRINAGAR
Coming down heavily on ruling National Conference, former Indian Army Chief Saturday said that this party is responsible for the present and past mess in Kashmir.
In an exclusive chat with Srinagar based news gathering agency CNS, former Indian Army Chief, Retired General V.K.Singh said that 2010 Summer Agitation was not orchestrated but started with the killing of a youth in Srinagar.
“National Conference is misleading the country that 2010 Summer Agitation had links with Machil Encounter. The reality is that this agitation started when a youth namely Tufail Matoo was killed by police in Srinagar city,” Singh said.
He said that atmosphere in Kashmir Valley has deteriorated because of the bad policies of National Conference. “This party (NC) is responsible for unrest in Kashmir Valley. The leaders of this party are opportunists who can go to any extent to achieve their goal,” Singh told CNS.
“Army tried its best to pacify youth and it was on my directions that Army started sports activities in Kashmir so that ‘frustrated’ youth could be shown a direction. Hundreds of Kashmir youth participated in Kashmir Premier League (KPL) and other activities. Army is there to restore peace and work for the welfare of the people but it is National Conference which is alienating the youth of Valley,” Genral V.K.Singh said.
Former Indian Army Chief said that allegations leveled against him are baseless. “It is political vendetta and nothing else. They are even blaming State Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hasan Mir who loves India by heart,” he said adding that to blame Mir is to blame ‘God’.
“Ghulam Hasan Mir is a true Indian and loves the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Persons like Mir are not present everywhere. He would die but would never allow anyone to tarnish the sovereignty of the Country,” Singh said.
He said elections are approaching and National Conference is in search of an issue, which could prove beneficial for this party. “It’s my firm belief that this party is responsible for all the prevailing mess in Kashmir and the way it is making clamour over a useless issue signifies how desperate this party is to grab the attention of the people,” he said.
