Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 6

Calling for a concerted dialogue process, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi alone could pull the Valley out of the prevailing morass.“Kashmir is not problem of a year or two, it is a 70-year-long issue which needs to be solved by addressing all related aspects,” she said at a public function here. “I know some people will criticise my stand, but I am of the firm opinion that the Prime Minister alone can permanently solve this vexed problem because he has the mandate of the entire nation,” she said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Claiming that Modi had the moral authority as well as the courage to take “bold decisions”, she recalled his unscheduled visit to Lahore on December 25, 2015, to normalise ties with Pakistan.Without naming a political or separatist group, she said some vested interests were hell-bent on fomenting trouble in the Valley. “I am hopeful that the PM, who has the mandate of the people, will take  effective steps to restore peace.” Invoking the Vajpayee doctrine, she recalled, “Vajpayeeji and Mufti Saheb had initiated sincere efforts which yielded encouraging results.”Facing immense pressure from within her party (PDP) to convince the Centre to hold parleys, Mehbooba has reason to invoke Vajpayee. It was during the latter’s tenure as PM that several pro-peace measures, including talks with the Hurriyat Conference and a ceasefire along the 720-km-long international border with Pakistan, were initiated. Also, LK Advani, then Deputy PM, had on January 22, 2004, held talks with separatists.“Thereafter, no efforts were made to carry forward the agenda of peace and reconciliation. It was owing to the ‘causal’ approach of the UPA government and successive dispensations in Jammu and Kashmir that the state saw unprecedented violence in 2008-2010,” she claimed.“There was pent-up lava. It started to pour out in 2008 and then in 2009-2010. This lava has now spread to the streets and we are forced to face this situation,” she said. As the CM was speaking, senior Congress leader Gulchain Singh Charak interrupted her, demanding two civil secretariats, one in Jammu and another in Srinagar. Charak, who later walked out in protest, was heckled by  some workers.

Student protests continue in Valley; 27 hurt in Handwara

Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 6

A total of 27 students were hurt in the massive clashes that rocked Handwara and Pulwama today as the student demonstrations continued for the third week in the Valley.The Superintendent of Police, Handwara, said:“The students of Degree College, Handwara, took out a protest rally on the main road and started throwing stones on vehicles and police personnel, which resulted in clashes. The situation was brought under control.”The principal of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Handwara, said due to the massive teargas shelling outside the school around 50 girls fell unconscious and were admitted to hospital.“Our students were inside the school, which is half a kilometre away from Degree College, but the teargas smoke spread inside the school where 1,500 girls were there. Due to the intense shelling around 50 students collapsed on the ground. We admitted them to a hospital as a precautionary measure,” the principal said, adding that most of the students were discharged after treatment.Students of Degree College alleged that they were protesting peacefully but the police started throwing teargas shells on them without any reason in which many of them were injured. The students said many girls fainted on the spot due to inhaling of smoke.Chief Medical Officer, Handwara, Dr Khan said 27 injured students were treated after clashes and most of them had minor injuries.“One girl had a head injury, but after CT scan she was declared stable. The students were discharged after treatment,” the doctor said.The clashes also erupted in south Kashmir’s Newa Pulwama when the students of Higher Secondary School threw stones at a nearby Army camp.“The minor clashes happened today when the students threw stones at an Army camp but due to the presence of teachers and police the protesters were immediately pacified,” said Superintendent of Police, Pulwama, Mohammad Rayees Bhat.