Amit Shah kind towards JK leaders: Jitendra Singh

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has been very "lenient and kind" towards political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir with regards to their detention and in imposing restrictions in the Valley following abrogation of Article 370, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday.

He also said one should not forget that former J&K chief minister Sheikh Abdullah was sent 2,000 kilometers away to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu to put him behind bars, which lasted over a decade, on the orders of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1953, who was considered close to him.

"Home Minister Amit Shah has been very liberal, lenient and kind in executing house arrests of some political leaders and in imposing preventive restrictions in Kashmir," Singh said at the "India Today Conclave" here.

The Union minister in the Prime Minister's Office said the jurisprudence concept of house arrest implies solitary confinement and snapping all contacts with the rest of the world.

But J&K leaders presently under house arrest are not only lodged in familiar environs of Srinagar, but also have the privilege to have their preferred requirements including "brown bread" for breakfast and gym for exercise, he said.

"I can say with all the confidence in my command, within six months you will see, people coming out and saying what has happened is in their interest," Singh said, strongly defending the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution that accorded special status to J&K.

Refuting reports of clampdown or curfew in Kashmir, Singh said there is no restriction on the common man that is why even the TV journalist who was interviewing him had the freedom to visit J&K, and Ladakh recently, and is welcome to visit again if he desires.

If there was curfew how were people moving about sans curfew passes, he asked.

The minister said people themselves are reluctant to move out or allow their children to move around freely because every parent wants to be doubly sure about the safety of his or her children.

The Union minister said restriction is there in Kashmir only on hooliganism or on making statements that will vitiate the atmosphere there.

He said the decision to scrap the provisions of the Article caused "frustration and desperation" only among those handful who "flourished and thrived through 10 per cent voter turnout in an atmosphere of vacuum which enabled them to carry out their dynastic dominance for three decades".

He, however, did not name anyone.

To a question about Pakistan ministers threatening nuclear war with India, Singh said their comments may not be truly in proportion with what those in power in that country intend to do.

He, however, added the whole world knows what it means to play mischief with India with the kind of military and diplomatic supremacy New Delhi enjoys today.

On External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's comment that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is a part of India and New Delhi expects to have physical jurisdiction over it one day, Singh said it is in line with Parliament's stated and accepted position on the issue.

Asked if reclaiming PoK will involve aggression, Singh said it does not necessarily mean military aggression. "And whatever that means, it is for the agencies and functionaries concerned to decide."
Asked if he saw the possibility of a war, Singh said, "Saying that we will go to nuclear war does not necessarily mean that we can go to nuclear war. So, it has been like that."