SRINAGAR: Following the cancellation of the NSA-level talks with Pakistan, the J&K BJP, which along with the PDP runs the state’s coalition government, on Tuesday made it known that it was opposed to any kind of dialogue between the Centre and the separatists.
“We feel separatists have been marginalised in Kashmir. They have lost relevance as far as Kashmir issue is concerned,” state BJP chief spokesman Sunil Sethi told Express over phone from Jammu. He said militancy did exist in the state, which was a matter of serious concern. “India wants to discuss terrorism with Pakistan and there is no room for talks with separatists, who are no longer relevant”. Sethi said the separatists are not public representatives and have no representative character.
“They are only a handful of people with almost no influence and relevance and confined to only a few streets in Kashmir. They support militancy and work on the basis of the diktats from across the border,” he said.
According to state BJP spokesman Khalid Jehangir, the saffron party is ready to engage with any citizen of the country, who eschews the path of violence and separatism and believes and reposes faith in the Constitution.
Asserting that the separatist leaders had lost their relevance, Jehangir said, “They had given a call to boycott the elections during Parliamentary and Assembly polls last year and people in the Valley rejected it. It means they have no foothold in the Valley”.