Asserting that his job was to make situation conducive for talks, Governor Satya Pal Malik on Thursday ruled out dialogue with the Hurriyat till the separatist leaders disassociated themselves from Pakistan.
“As long as the Hurriyat does not keep away Pakistan, we will not talk to them. Talks are the prerogative of the government. My role is to make the situation conducive for talks and I am trying to make that happen,” Malik told reporters on the sidelines of a function held here.
Even as the Governor maintained that violence had come down, he admitted to “carelessness” in the Kulgam incident where seven persons were killed in a blast at an encounter site on Sunday.
“What happened in Kulgam is very unfortunate. There was carelessness on our part also as well as on people’s part,” he said while adding that security forces were directed not to leave the encounter site without clearing the area. “There should also be advertisements in the newspapers appealing to people not to go near the sites of encounters. People should also understand this, political parties should also come forward and stop people from going to encounter sites for a few days till the sites are cleared,” he added.
Earlier in his speech, he blamed the previous Central governments for the Kashmir problem. “The problem has not been created by the Kashmiris… what the erstwhile rulers in Delhi did, it increased uncertainty, separatism and all problems here. But today, I can safely say as a representative of the government that Delhi is a friend of Kashmiris. Delhi does not want to govern you but wants you to govern the whole country,” he said.
Malik said he was pained by the recent killing of an AMU research scholar-turned-militant. “A terrorist Mannan Wani was killed here. He was well-educated and I felt pained. He could have done so much for the country,” he said while adding that he had intervened to prevent the suspension of students from the AMU after they gathered to offer funeral prayers for Mannan.
