Sections in Pak. taking violence beyond LoC, says Ram Madhav

Ram Madhav, Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary in charge of party affairs in Jammu and Kashmir and the seven northeastern States, has blamed certain elements within Pakistan for the escalating violence along the International Border.

In an interview with The Hindu, he said: “What is happening now, and is quite worrisome, is the fact that they [terror incidents and infiltration] are happening now along the International Border, whereas [earlier] they would occur on the Line of Control.”

“Everybody knows who those sections are, what those sections are. They continue with their policy of bleeding India, not allowing tension-free relations between the two countries. It shouldn’t be seen as the whole state specifically engaging in this; it should be seen as certain sections of the Pakistani establishment insistent on continuing to use terror as part of a state weapon,” he said. On the special package for Jammu and Kashmir, he said the Centre had given a favourable response.

‘Peace with NSCN(I-M) big feat’

Mr. Madhav has taken umbrage at the Congress’s assertion that the Naga peace accord has been signed without taking various stakeholders into confidence.

In an interview with The Hindu, he said: “The biggest group fighting for the cause for the past 40 years, the NSCN(I-M) [Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muviah)], has finally come around to finding an accommodation with the Indian state and eschew violence,” he said.

Citizenship

He said the BJP was speaking to the government on the question of giving citizenship to stateless minorities from Pakistan and Bangladesh. “With the National Registration of Citizens exercise going on in Assam, the situation has worsened for these people who do not have valid documents and are harassed by the State police, thanks to Tarun Gogoi [Assam Chief Minister],”he said.