SRINAGAR: Kashmir’s erstwhile governor, Satyapal Malik has given a nearly half-hour interview to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The interview has hinted that insurgency is limping back to Jammu and Kashmir.
“My opinion about Jammu and Kashmir is that you cannot keep it calm with the help of security forces and I suggest winning the hearts of the people of that place and after that, you can do anything. The people over there are amiable,” Malik told Gandhi in an interview that he has posted on his YouTube channel. “Now I only wish that the statehood should be restored and elections are held. After all, this was the assurance made by (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah on the floor of the house.”
The erstwhile governor told Gandhi that he had personally told the government to restore it but they said why should it be done. After all everything is all right, he said.
Malik believes that the abrogation of Article 370 hurt Kashmir less in comparison to the divesting Jammu and Kashmir of its statehood.
Malik reiterated his attack on the Pulwama attack. “I have never said that those in power at that time were responsible for the attack but yes they ignored it and used the attack for their political gains,” Malik told Gandhi. He said they said in speeches asking people when they go to vote, they must keep in mind the martyrs of Pulwama. “I was asked not to comment on this at that time because I advocated that some heads should roll after the incident.”
It was in this interview that Gandhi himself revealed that when the slain soldiers of the attack were flown to Delhi, he went to the airport ignoring the security restrictions and was kept in a room. “They literally locked me in a room,” he said.