With terror, Pakistan 'successfully prevented' talks: Jaitley

Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday accused Pakistan of vitiating the atmosphere for talks through terror even though India took a number of steps to ease tensions.

He also asserted that the situation in Kashmir was normal as the armed forces maintain dominance on the Line of Control (LoC) and not like the one that is sought to be portrayed.

At a press conference to mark three years of the NDA government rule, Jaitley said India took "significant steps to ease the situation" like inviting Premier Nawaz Sharif for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's oath ceremony in 2014 and Modi dropping in at Lahore for a social function at Sharif's house in December 2015.

"Each one of these was responded by Pakistan with, let's say, a Pathankot or an Uri or even the mutilation of two of our soldiers. That environment which must exist for talks has been successfully prevented by Pakistan," he said.

The Minister said the Indian armed forces, which include the Army and the BSF, have been dominating the LoC -- the de facto border with Pakistan -- for the "past few weeks" to curb cross-border militant incursions.

Jaitley refused to get into details about how the government planned to control the escalating militancy in Kashmir.

"I don't want to get into the strategic details but in the past few weeks our armed forces are dominating the LoC. Our security forces have been maintaining control over the situation."

"The security forces have been able to build up a lot of pressure on them, and the results, some of which are evident almost on a daily basis. I can only tell you in past few weeks armed forces are dominating the Line of Control. The insurgents, irrespective of whether they are foreign or domestic, the security forces have built lot of pressure on them," Jaitley said.

Asked about the situation in the Kashmir Valley, the Minister said it was not as bad as it was made out to be.

"Go and see for yourself. The situation in Kashmir is normal as the impression is being given. We had been there for three days for GST council meeting. Some south Kashmir districts were a challenge. The other parts of the valley, including Srinagar, are normal," Jaitley said.

There has been tension in the Kashmir valley for the last few months after the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-poll. Last week tension mounted after the killing of Sabzar Ahmed Bhat, a close aide of slain militant Burhan Wani.

--IANS

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