Release of Jammu & Kashmir leaders is an administration call: Amit Shah

New Delhi: Asserting that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is “normal” and not a single death due to police firing was reported after the abrogation of Article 370, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that jailed political leaders will be released after the Union Territory administration decides on the situation.

“As far as the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, it is completely normal. But, I cannot normalize the situation of Congress. Because they had said that there will be a bloodbath after the abrogation of Article 370 and the government would not be able to lift curfew from there for years. But, nothing happened,” Shah said while replying to a query raised by Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdury.

Shah said this while responding to a supplementary question by Chowdhury, who mocked at the government’s explanation on the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir as informed by Shah’s junior G. Kishan Reddy (Minister of State for Home).

Chowdhary had said: “There is a Ram Rajya in J&K as per them. All political leaders have been detained. Our MPs are not being allowed to visit there, but MPs from outside the country are being allowed to visit there. You (Amit Shah) had promised in this House that everything will be normal in Jammu and Kashmir.”

Amid pandemonium created by Congress, the minister said 99.5 percent of students participated in the recently concluded exams in Jammu and Kashmir.

On Chowdhury’s question that “political activity” will be seen as normalcy, Shah hit back at the leader, saying: “He doesn’t consider normalcy when students participate in exams, over seven lakh OPD patients get health facilities, Section 144 is withdrawn from all police stations, no one gets killed in any police firing and traffic flow is normal.

“He only considers the political activity as normalcy. As far as political activity is concerned, over the Panchayat elections took place which was not done so far in their (Congress) regime. Later, all Block Development Council elections happened peacefully and over 95 percent voting took place. Is this not political?” Shah said.

“As far as the release of political leaders from jail is concerned, I want to say that we don’t want to keep anyone in jail for a single day. Whenever the administration in Jammu and Kashmir decides, they (politicians) will be released.”

Shah mentioned that these leaders are in jail only for five-six months, but Farooq Abdullah’s father Sheikh Abdullah was put in jail by the Congress for 11 years when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister.

“We don’t want to follow their (Congress) path. Whenever the J&K administration finds a feasible condition, it will release them. We don’t interfere in the functioning of the administration like them (Congress).

“We should be worried about the condition of some leaders who are in jail in Jammu & Kashmir, they do it and we also do it. But a message should go to the people of the valley that Congress party worries about them and not only of political activity,” Shah said. (IANS)

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