Lok Sabha: Govt claims law and order situation improved in JK, Cong rebuffs

New Delhi: While the government today claimed in the Lok Sabha that the law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir was "much better" than the last year, the Congress rebuffed the claims and demanded that the centre should take nation into confidence on J&K.
Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj G Ahir on Wednesday informed the Lok Sabha that there has been a remarkable improvement in the law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir this year compared to the previous year.
He also said that the centre was open for talks with those who abstain from violence and work within the constitution. "As reported by the state government, the law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir is much better than the previous year as 583 cases have been registered during the current year till date, against 2,897 cases of previous year," Ahir said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
He said 1,2650 miscreants, separatists were "either arrested or bound down under substantive and preventive laws" by the police since 2016 and it also imposed restrictions in the vulnerable areas to thwart such incidents.
"Separatists and trouble mongers have been kept under close surveillance to check their activities," the minister said. Ahir said the "government remains open to dialogue with those who eschew the path of violence and are willing to work within the framework of the Constitution of India."
The police, he said, has undertaken various initiatives like conducting sports events, community policing, counselling of miscreants among others to engage the people of the state.
Meanwhile, critical of the government's handling of Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress today demanded that it take the nation into confidence and spell out the steps being taken to bring normalcy in the state.
Rejecting the government's claim that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir had improved, the party's senior spokespersons, Ghulam Nabi Azad and P Chidambaram, said in a statement that casualties had been reported from the state everyday since July 10.
"The Congress repudiates the Government's claim and calls upon the Government to take the nation into confidence and disclose what it is doing to bring about normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir," the two leaders said in the joint statement.
Eight pilgrims, six jawans and a child had been killed in July in the state, besides many incidents of clashes between civilians and security forces injuring numerous persons, they pointed out.
"Yet the Government claims that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir has improved. Such a claim defies belief and common sense.
"The statement made by the Government yesterday is wrong, misleading and clearly at variance with the situation on the ground," Azad and Chidambaram said.
The party fears the situation is going out of control in Jammu and Kashmir and has favoured initiation of dialogue with various stakeholders.
Kashmir has been on the boil since the death of terrorist Burhan Wani in an encounter with the police last July.
Chidambaram had on Sunday criticised the "maximalist" approach of the central government in Kashmir.