NEW DELHI: In an important political development, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that they wanted a permanent solution to the Kashmir problem and are “open to speak to anyone”, a media report said. According to a report in Network18.com Singh claimed that he had personally asked Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to ignore cases against ‘first-time stone pelters.’
“Kashmir is, was and will be ours always. We want a permanent solution to the Kashmir problem and we are open to speak to anyone,” the report quoted Singh as saying. “Government interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma was accommodating and moving forward in the direction to resolving issues,” he said. The Home Minister further said that the government has made no difference between the children in Kashmir and those in the other parts of the country. Singh also said that the government wanted a permanent solution to the Kashmir crisis, and that the state will always remain a part of India.
Earlier this year, Jammu and Kashmir government has approved withdrawal of cases registered against 9,730 people involved in stone-pelting incidents, including first-time offenders, between 2008 and 2017. “We have forgiven first-time stone pelters. I spoke to the CM of Kashmir and told her that children who were involved in stone pelting for the first time need to be let go. They might have been influenced by other people and are young children. We need to give them a second chance,” Rajnath Singh said at the News18 Rising India Summit.