Coming down heavily on the ruling party of Jammu and Kashmir -- the National Conference -- former Army chief retired General V K Singh on Saturday said that the ruling party is responsible for the present and past mess in the state.
In an exclusive interview with a Srinagar based news agency, the former Army Chief said that the 2010 summer agitation was not orchestrated, but started with the killing of a youth in Srinagar.
“The National Conference is misleading the country that the 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,” Singh said.
He said that atmosphere in the Kashmir Valley has deteriorated because of the bad policies of the National Conference. “This party (NC) is responsible for unrest in the Kashmir Valley. The leaders of this party are opportunists who can go to any extent to achieve their goal,” Singh said.
“The Army tried its best to pacify youth and it was on my directions that the 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). The Army is there to restore peace and work for the welfare of the people, but it is the NC which is alienating the youth of the Valley,” he said.
Singh said that allegations leveled against him are baseless. “They are even blaming state Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hasan Mir,” he said. “Ghulam Hasan Mir is a true Indian and loves the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He would die, but would never allow anyone to tarnish the sovereignty of the country,” Singh said.
“It’s my firm belief that this party is responsible for all the prevailing mess in Kashmir and the way it is clamouring over a useless issue signifies how desperate it is to grab the attention of the people,” he said.