Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is making efforts to win back the trust of people in the PDP bastion of South Kashmir.
During a police passing out parade on Wednesday she appealed to the police and the security forces not to use excessive force and act as facilitators for peace so that she can start the process of reconciliation and dialogue in Kashmir.
CM Mehbooba for the first time admitted that the police and the security forces used excessive force to control crowds in Kashmir. She said that it was the duty of police and the security agencies to differentiate between stone-pelters, angry youth, militants and their families while dealing such situations in future.
At the same time, CM Mehbooba said that had the police not used more force, there would have been loss of more lives and properties. Earlier, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had asked Mehbooba Mufti to admit the excessive use of force and seek public apology for the same.
CM Mehbooba said that she has instructed the police and the security forces to use pellet guns in rare cases only.
She underlined the need for the police to change the ways in which they deal with the situation during stone pelting, adding that the people of Kashmir now needed the support of the government to come out of their depression and agony.
She said that every youth should not be suspected and randomly arrested. “We cannot weigh every youth with the same scale; we have to differentiate between the militants and their family members. We cannot punish people for someone else’s crime,” Mehbooba said.
Stressing on reconciliation and dialogue, she said that it was the only way forward for the final settlement of the Kashmir dispute. She promised she would make the valley’s atmosphere so peaceful that slapping of PSA on youth and elderly persons would be a thing of the past. She assured the same against the provision of AFSPA. “Please help me to create an atmosphere in J&K when PSA is used only against criminals, drug peddlers etc., and not used against the youth and elderly persons,” she appealed.