‘Omar doing good job, can’t say why he is getting desperate on Statehood’
*Pak planned Pahalgam, Armed Forces achieved targets in 72 hours
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 18: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today reiterated that the Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir will be restored at an appropriate time which was the commitment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and the people should have faith in their words.
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“The Prime Minister as well as the Home Minister had stated that Delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir will be followed by elections (Assembly) and restoration of Statehood at an appropriate time. The Assembly elections were a historic with not even a single stone pelting incident reported and political parties continued campaign till late in the night. There was a huge turnout and no re-poll was ordered,” Sinha said in an interview with a national news channel tonight.
He said the people should have faith on what the Prime Minister and the Home Minister have said.
“Those who have been members of the Parliament know what the assurance given in the House means. The people should have faith in what the Prime Minister has assured to the people and the Home Minister has said in the Parliament,” he said.
“Very good”, Sinha quipped in response to a question on how Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was working.
“Can’t say” was the LG’s reply to another question on why he (Omar) was getting desperate on the Statehood.
On what changes Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed during his 6-year tenure, Sinha said the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been living their life freely…peace has been established…development is apace and economy has improved and is surging ahead.
“When I came, Jammu and Kashmir Bank was in the losses ranging between Rs 1300 cr to Rs 1400 crore. Now, the institution is in the profit of Rs 2000 crore. Number of peace stakeholders has gone up. There is boom in tourism, agriculture and allied sectors,” he said.
To a question on the Prime Minister’s acceptability especially in the Kashmir Valley, the Lieutenant Governor said it was there earlier also but now it has gone up. Vote is a separate issue but the people say they have never seen such development which has been done under Narendra Modi’s leadership with train running from Kashmir to Kanyakumari; National Highways and Expressways being constructed and many other works taken up.
On first anniversary of Operation Sindoor, Sinha said everybody knows April 22, 2025 terror attack in Pahalgam was executed by the neighbor (a reference towards Pakistan) but our Army, police and CRPF eliminated each and every accused involved in the incident.
“Our Armed Forces fixed the targets and executed them within 72 hours during Operation Sindoor,” he said, adding India has to move forward with Viksit Bharat target. “Two full scale wars have been going on in the world with no results,” he pointed and said what our Armed Forces wanted to target was done within 72 hours of Operation Sindoor.
Sinha said recruitment of the terrorists is negligible. All top commanders of the outfits have been killed. Now the neighbor is trying to push terrorists through infiltration but they too have been eliminated, he added and said since the focus of security agencies was earlier on Kashmir, some terrorists reached the mountains in Jammu but now the Security Grid is fully in place and everything has been taken care of.
On Nasha Mukt campaign launched in Jammu and Kashmir, the LG said the issues of terrorism and drugs are connected in the UT and these are the terror outfits which ultimately get benefitted from smuggling of narcotics. Through the proceeds of narcotics, weapons are purchases, youth are radicalized and terrorism is promoted, he asserted.
“We are now taking strict action against the drug peddlers. Career of youth has been spoiled. If terrorism has to be completely finished, the drug menace has to be stopped. And, we are doing exactly that,” Sinha said.
He said the neighbor (Pakistan) has been exploiting the routes in Tangmarg, Karnah, Samba, Kathua and Punjab etc and using drones to smuggle narcotics. We are trying to disrupt this supply chain and are satisfied that police and security forces have succeeded about 90 percent to smash this supply link.
“Lists of top gangsters of narcotics have been prepared. Pictures have been pasted in Police Stations. Seventy six FIRs have been registered and 856 offenders have been arrested. About 676 kgs of narcotics have been recovered which include six kg heroin. Several properties have been attached and demolished. Driving Licenses have been cancelled,” Sinha said, adding in addition to this large-scale awareness programmes are being organized in schools and districts and sports, culture and music activities are being held to divert focus of the youth.
Asserting that some people are feeling heat of the drive, the LG, however, declared that the directions have been issued to ensure that the innocent people are not harassed and if there is any complaint, strict action will be taken.
Sinha said he was currently engaged with two major works including drive against drug menace and development of vibrant villages on the borders. He added that the terror victim families were ignored earlier but we provided jobs to next of their kin besides taking other rehabilitation measures.
On radicalization, he said security forces are seriously working and countering the threat with technology. Security agencies are fully alive to the situation and have tackled the threat, he added.
“The days of discrimination with any of the regions are now over,” he asserted.
On scrapping of the Indus Water Treaty, he said the Government of India has adopted, short, medium and long term approaches and some projects have been approved while others are in the pipeline.
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