‘No compromise on illegal crushers, mining, land mafia’
Avtar Bhat
KATHUA, July 13: Maintaining that new strategy is being evolved to crush the terrorism in the UT of J&K, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today said holding only Pakistan responsible for the recent spike in terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir is not enough and called for self-introspection to end illegal activities, which benefit terrorism in the Union Territory.
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Talking to reporters after holding a public darbar here today, Dr Jitendra Singh said that people have also to remain vigilant and join hands with Government in fighting out terror. He said certain factors like bovine smuggling, drug trafficking etc are directly or indirectly involved in promoting terrorism and the Government is taking tough action against them.
He said that drug traffickers from Punjab to J&K will be dealt strongly and barricades and check points will be installed to stop the movement of drug traffickers.
He said the Government is implementing a new strategy, which includes deployment of Army in the higher reaches to ensure that peace is restored within one week in Kathua, where five Army personnel were martyred and an equal number injured in an ambush by the terrorists on July 8. Click here to watch video
“The recent terror incidents (in Jammu region) carried out by infiltrators from Pakistan is condemnable. But repeatedly saying that Pakistan has done this is not sufficient. We have to ask ourselves and inner-souls what we have done to end social evils which are benefitting terrorism,” the Minister told reporters.
Kathua Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Minhas and other officers were also present in the darbar.
“The Government is already acting tough (against terrorism) but society has also its own responsibility. Repeating that they have come from Pakistan is not sufficient. Pakistan has been doing mischief since 1947 and will continue to do so. It will not listen but the question is what we are doing and we have to ask this to ourselves,” Singh said.
While warning the local terror facilitators of stern action, he urged the society to remain vigilant and join the Government’ efforts to deal with the menace of terrorism in the region.
He said drug trafficking, illegal mining, bovine smuggling along with emerging new fashion of encroaching Government and poor man’s land is a vicious cycle which somewhat facilitates terrorism and giving bad name to Kathua.
The Minister said that he was in constant touch with the Home Ministry and also met Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi to discuss the prevailing security situation in Jammu in the aftermath of the recent attacks.
“When pressure mounted (on terrorists) in Kashmir, they shifted the focus to Jammu. Our effort was to bring in the Army while paramilitary forces are already there. After the deployment of the Army, a new strategy is being chalked out to fight terrorism,” he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said the Army has taken over positions in the hills so that the terrorists are not able to carry out further attacks.
“Several other measures have also been taken and J&K Police are in full support. The Kathua SSP (Senior Superintendent of Police) has been camping in the hills for the past four days and the situation will be normal within a week,” he said.
Referring to the killing of a Village Defence Guard (VDG) member in Dudu-Basantgarh in Udhampur in April by the terrorists, the Minister said the people were demoralized but setting up of Army posts there boosted their morale.
“The revival of VDG is in progress and they will be cared for better than previously,” he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said terrorism is linked to illegal activities like drug abuse, which is ruining the lives of youth.
“Anybody linked with illegal crushers, unauthorised mining or land encroachment will not be spared, no matter how influential he thinks of himself or whatever public clout he thinks he enjoys,” he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said he has got reports from several agencies that mining mafia has damaged the bridges by excavating the land near them and within years these bridges will cave in case the Government fails to act. He said stern action is being taken against mining mafia and illegal crushers in the district.
Moreover, he also warned the land grabbers and bovine smugglers saying that the land grabbers grabbing the land of poor people will have to face the tough action henceforth and no leniency will be shown to them how influential politically they may be.
The Minister said nobody has a right to indulge in illegal mining and erode the foundations of our precious bridges like Keediyan Gandyal, Atal Sethu and Jathana bridge.
Similarly, nobody has the right to earn ill-gotten wealth by turning others’ children into drug addicts because tomorrow his own children may also fall prey to such addiction, he said.
“Exemplary and punitive action will be held out against those indulging in these crimes, irrespective of their political affiliations or so-called influence,” he warned.
The Minister informed the local administration has acted against 25 illegal crushers and a fresh list of nearly a dozen such crushers is being prepared to take strict action against them as per the law.
Dr Jitendra Singh flagged the increasing incidents of cattle smuggling in the area, vowing to deal with the crime with an iron hand.
The Minister said the journey of development undertaken by the Modi Government has transformed the landscape of the Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Parliamentary constituency in the last 10 years.
“Milestones of development can be seen at every two kilometres of the constituency,” he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said the last decade of the Modi Government was dedicated to overcoming shortcomings of the previous regimes.
“Now, the Government is focussed on consolidating the gains of the past decade in its fresh term,” he pledged.
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