Govt's Kashmir policy a complete failure: Sitaram Yechury

Hours after the Jammu and Kashmir Government issued advisory to the locals to stay away from encounter areas in the Valley, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said the government's Kashmir's policy is a complete failure.

Throwing light on the confidence-building measures discussed post the all-party delegation visit to Kashmir, Yechury said none of the measures have been implemented so far.

"The whole idea was to address the growing alienation of the people of Kashmir and to draw them in. Not a single one of these confidence-building measures have been implemented so far. So, it's clear that this government's Kashmir's policy is a complete failure," he told ANI.

Appealing the government to build confidence among the Kashmir people, Yechury said the present situation is making the entire population condemnable.

"Now they are trying to create a situation whereby the whole population is being condemned. The point is to separate the people from the separatists. This should be the strategy which the government itself agreed. But, they have not done anything so far. We want the government to move on these confidence-building measures that they themselves announced. Then move towards a situation whereby peace and normalcy can be ensured in Kashmir and people's confidence can be restored," he said.

Earlier today, the Jammu and Kashmir Government issued advisory to the people of the Valley to stay away from the sites of encounters.

The advisory came a day after Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat said those Kashmiris supporting terrorists would be considered anti-national.

"People who have picked up arms, the local boys, if they want to continue with such acts of terrorism and display flags of ISIS and Pakistan, then we will treat them as anti-national elements and go helter-skelter for them. Our relentless operations will continue," General Rawat said.