Srinagar:Taking separatist leaders head-on, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today accused them of instigating the children in the Valley to engage in violence while making sure their own studied abroad or outside the state.

“My colleagues have this (fear) that I may say something.

But, I have always spoken truth. The way a mother slaps her child when he tries to touch a hot kangri (firepot), I will do the same to save my people.

“I will be angry, I will speak truth and warn them not to use children as a shield (during street protests),” Mehbooba told a gathering at an official event, invoking motherhood that is devoted to the welfare of the child.

She exuded confidence that the Valley will come out of the “misery” as her intentions were noble. “Majority of the people want an honourable solution to the issue. Nobody wants violence except for those who don’t have to face impact of this violence as their own children are studying outside the Valley.

“They ask the children to fight bullets, pellets and teargas, but themselves fear a policeman,” she said.

Taking on the separatists, she said they were “exploiting” children in the Valley only after having made sure that their studied outside.

She, however, hoped the situation would get back to normal.

“Time will not remain like this always, but wounds will be there on the hearts of the children which these people have inflicted. Today, people will find my words bitter, but they will later understand what I said because I saw many people roaming the streets at night provoking children to join the protests.

“God is witness, that their (the separatists’) own children study in Malaysia, Dubai, Bangalore and Rajasthan. If a single child of these people has been injured in the protests in these days, I am ready to quit politics,” she said at the function organised to distribute LED bulbs under the Centre’s ‘UJALA’ scheme.

The function was organized by Union Power Ministry, State Power Development Department and Energy Efficiency Services Limited a joint-venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power.

Hitting out at those who were provoking people, especially children to come out on the roads, Mehbooba said, “What solution is this that our children are getting blinded. Till when will this go on?”

“Nothing will come out of this…by violence, by closing shops and throwing stones. Our movement is not a movement now because it has jettisoned our culture and become uncultured,” Mehbooba said.

She said there is an opportunity for addressing the Kashmir issue as the country has a strong Prime Minister in Narendra Modi who has called for an end to the violence.

“Today, there is an opportunity as there is a very strong Prime Minister in this country. Today, in this situation, the cream of the country, members of Parliament, came to you (as part of an all-party delegation) and many among them said that they want to talk without any conditions.

“I, as president (PDP), wrote a letter. It had not happened till now. I said you talk wherever you want, we would facilitate it because every day children are getting killed, injured. This should end. Our shops are closed, our schools are shut, everything has stopped. Today, there is an opportunity for the people of the state if they want a solution to the issue,” she said.

“We have lost several opportunities in the past to resolve the issue through engagement and dialogue and today again if we miss the chance, the coming generations will never forgive us for our intransigence,” she said.

She said if the separatists have the courage they should sleep in their homes instead of roaming around exploiting the children.

“If you (separatists) have courage, then sleep in your homes and not roam around from one home to another asking children to take out protests rallies. You fear my policeman, but tell these children, my children, our children, who should have been in schools, to take out protests in other places and do something so that there is a reaction (from the security forces).

“How will I tolerate this? I have been saying this that there are mostly those children who used to be at my rallies when they were kids when no one was with me,” she said.

Separatists fighting proxy war of Pakistan: BJP

Jammu:BJP today said separatists in Kashmir were fighting a “proxy war” against India with the help of “imported terrorists” and funding from Pakistan in the name of “so called azadi” even as it blamed the neighbouring country for sponsoring the present unrest in the Valley.

“The separatist elements in the Valley are fighting a proxy war against India with the help of imported terrorists and funding from Pakistan with nefarious designs and for the cause of so-called azadi (freedom movement),” BJP state spokesman Balbir Ram Rattan said here.

He said it was unfortunate that separatists were “misguiding the youth” and using them as “human shields” in confrontation against the security forces.

“In this way, in a pre-planned manner, the attempt is being made to highlight the Kashmir issue in the world at the cost of the lives of young boys. The so called Kashmir problem is, in fact, a problem in Kashmir where the majority of the people, who want peace and tranquillity, are forced to bear the brunt of the situation created by Pakistan with the help of its stooges operating in the Valley,” Rattan said.

He alleged that problem in Kashmir was a result of wrong policies by successive governments’ at the Centre post independence, which, according to him, always tried to “pamper the separatists and politicians with vested interests and ignoring the interests of common masses”.

“The elite-class in the Valley has always tried to create the unrest and turmoil on one pretext or the other while following a policy of separatism- bringing in unending vortex of violence, instability, and destruction with peace becoming a casualty,” he alleged.

“Whatever the state is facing today was the creation of faulty approach to deal with the separatists and politicians with vested interests who should have been curbed from the very beginning,” he said.

PTI