PDP leader Muzzafar Baig urges PM to declare that intolerance

On the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Jammu and Kashmir, senior PDP leader Muzzafar Hussain Baig today urged him to send a clear message that "intolerance and communalism" will not be tolerated any more as the situation in the country was "worse than ever before".
Baig, a Lok Sabha MP, also told the Prime Minister not to lose out on the opportunity to send a clear message to the violators during his visit to J and K tomorrow.
"I beseech you both to rise to the occasion and assure the people of the state and minorities of the country in general that communalism, intolerance and bigotry shall not be tolerated - never any more," Baig said in an open letter addressed to the Prime Minister and state Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed

"Modi Sahib, if you cannot do it, then who can? Who shall?", he asked.
Baig said the sense of insecurity that prevails today in the only Muslim majority state of J and K has never been witnessed before.
"Today, the general perception of the people of the state is that the only thing this alliance has so far achieved is further alienation, mistrust and cynicism," Baig said.

He said the PDP was being accused of being "agents" who had some "hidden and dangerous agenda".
"The unfortunate environment of intolerance, leading to even ruthless killing of some members of minority community in Uttar Pradesh and some innocent Kashmiris in Jammu, has made Muslims, living in all regions of the state, extremely insecure," he said.

The comments came on eve of visit of the Prime Minister to the state where he will be holding a public rally in the Valley and inaugurating the second phase of Baghlihar power project in Jammu.
Baig said tomorrow's opportunity of assuring the people of the state and minorities of the country in general should not be lost and a clear message should be sent to violators, who commit this crime against humanity, that no matter which community they belong to, or what position they hold, they shall be forced to face the perils of law.
The PDP leader, who has been a veteran Supreme Court lawyer, said the issue of people of the Valley was not only bread and butter or resolution of the Kashmir issue, flood relief and development, but "whether they shall be secure in future, whether their life and self-respect will remain secure; whether they can travel freely and safely in India; whether the students and traders of Kashmir will face peril in the mainland India.

"I dare say today minorities throughout the country feel the same way. It is heartening that majority of Indians have expressed their concern and resentment," he said.