By PTI
SRINAGAR: With Kashmir witnessing a spate of civilian killings by militants over the past few days, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Thursday the government will smoke the perpetrators “out of their holes and hold them accountable”.
The Union minister for minority affairs said evil forces will not be allowed to hijack the atmosphere of peace and prosperity in Jammu and Kashmir. His remarks came after two teachers from minority communities were shot dead at a school here earlier in the day, taking the number of civilians killed in the last five days in the Kashmir valley to seven, four of them from among the minority community.
“It is very unfortunate,” he told reporters.
ALSO READ | Have we lost ground intelligence or enemy has become sharper? asks Altaf Bukhari on civilian killings
“The people of J-K want development and not terrorism. Those people who are trying to put a speed breaker on the path of J-K’s development through terrorism will not succeed.”
Naqvi, who in on a visit to Budgam district in central Kashmir as part of the Centre’s outreach programme for J-K, said evil forces will not be allowed to succeed in their “nefarious designs to hijack” the atmosphere of peace and prosperity in Jammu-Kashmir through terrorism and violence.
“The minorities here will remain protected. It is our national duty to protect them. Those who are doing it (attacking civilians and minorities), we will smoke them out of their holes and hold them accountable,” he said.
Earlier, while addressing various programmes during the foundation stone laying/inauguration of different development projects in the district, Naqvi, who is also the Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha, said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh are also moving forward on the path of prosperity.
ALSO READ | Civilian killings by militants aimed at spreading fear, damaging communal harmony: J&K DGP
Naqvi said Modi’s 20 years as a head of the elected government have been glorious years identified by “good governance”.
“The ‘Modi-era’ is an era of ‘Iqbal’ (prosperity), ‘Insaaf’ (justice) and ‘Imaan’ (integrity) where inclusive development, security and prosperity of the country are of the utmost priority,” he said.
The union minister said the dynastic politics had “deliberately deprived” the people of Jammu-Kashmir of the mainstream development process and of their constitutional rights by using the Article 370 — which was revoked by the Centre on August 5, 2019 — as their security cover.
“The Prime minister Modi-led government has ended the caucus of corruption from the power corridors of Delhi and now the Modi government has made Jammu-Kashmir also free from the corruption of clan. Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh have been moving forward on the path of inclusive development by demolishing the web of dynasty. After several decades, people of Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh have become an equal partner of transparent, democratic and development process,” he said.
Naqvi said that after the abolition of Article 370, the rights of the people of J-K and Leh-Kargil regarding trade, agriculture, employment, culture, land and property, etc have been provided absolute constitutional protection and safeguards.
“People of Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh have been benefited immensely from welfare schemes of the Modi government such as Ayushman Bharat, Jan Dhan Yojana, Ujjawala Yojana, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Mudra Yojana, and schemes providing houses and electricity,” he said.