Governor says delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir just a rumour

Agencies

Srinagar : Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday said blamed the media outside the state for demonising the situation in Kashmir causing a lot of hardships to the local people.

Addressing a press conference here, Malik said: “In my state (Uttar Pradesh), people are killed everyday. Tourists are daily looted on the Meerut highway. There is no news about these incidents. But Kashmiris are demonised even if a hat falls here.”

“Delimitation (of constituencies) is a constitutional matter, even the Home Ministry has not confirmed it. Right now these are only rumours”, he said.

Assuring safety of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims, he said, “I assure you that Amarnath Yatra will be conducted successfully. We will provide full proof security to the pilgrims.”

The Governor expressed satisfaction at people conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections in the state and said he was proud of the people for that.

However, he regretted that the mainstream political failed to persuade people to vote in the Lok Sabha polls. “I can ask them what has been the percentage of voting in these elections? They (mainstream parties) have failed to get people to vote,” he said.

He said he tried his best to persuade the local parties to participate in the panchayat polls too, but they did not agree. “Yet we conducted the elections to empower the people at the grassroots,” he added.

The Governor — who heads the anti-militancy grid called the Unified Headquarters in the state — also spoke about militancy in Kashmir. “Pakistan is in trouble. It is fatigued, it has started realising that it cannot break India, and yet it will keep doing certain things.

“Militant training camps are still active there, but we are neutralising the militants and new recruitments are also down,” he said.