PM not concerned about miseries of border residents: Cong leader

Senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi "hypes his achievements" through surgical strike but is "not concerned" about the miseries of people affected by cross-LoC shelling which have become "routine" since the September 2016 raids.

"We have really fallen to bad times. While the Prime Minister goes on to hype his achievements through surgical strike, he is not trying to feel concerned about the miseries of the people at borders in Jammu and Kashmir, through shelling which have become a routine since the surgical strike," Soz said in a statement here.

Referring to the civilian killings in Kashmir, the former union minister lashed out at the ruling PDP, saying the party cannot keep just issuing statements.

"Yes, Kashmir is experiencing a heart-breaking cycle of killings and these killings should stop forthwith," he said.

Soz said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti should lead a delegation and take up this matter with the Prime Minister.

"(It should be) followed by a decisive dialogue with the leadership in Kashmir, including the Hurriyat for resolving the political dispute, at the earliest," he said.

"The first task, before the Chief Minister should be that before visiting Srinagar with the so-called Darbar-Move, she should travel to Delhi and speak to PM Modi that any more bloodshed in Kashmir is not acceptable to her. She can give a definite message that a ceasefire should be declared forthwith, followed by a decisive dialogue, he added.