Rajnath Singh

Pelling/New Delhi, May 21

“Kashmir is ours, Kashmiris are ours and Kashmiriyat is also ours,” Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today, asserting that the Modi government would find a “permanent solution” to the Kashmir problem.The Home Minister’s assertion came amid continued unrest in the Kashmir valley.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Addressing a public reception here in this tiny North-Eastern state, Rajnath Singh accused Pakistan of trying to “destabilise” India by fomenting trouble in Kashmir.“But I want to tell all of you that our government will find a permanent solution to the Kashmir issue,” he said, without elaborating.Kashmir is in a vice-like grip of violence since the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces in July last year. Though there was a brief lull, violence erupted again on April 9 this year when the bypoll to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat was held. Normalcy has eluded the state since.Rajnath Singh said heads of government of all neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, were invited to the swearing-in ceremony of the Modi government in 2014 to indicate India wanted friendly relations with them.However, he deplored, there was no change in the “attitude” of Pakistan which wanted to “destabilise” India.“We hope that Pakistan will change. If it does not change, we will have to change them. After globalisation, one country can’t destabilise another country as the international community will not forget it,” he said.Meanwhile in New Delhi, BJP president Amit Shah said there was no need for  an “iota of concern” over the situation in Kashmir that has witnessed months of unrest, and asserted the Central Government would control it soon. “There is a big gap between the reality and the projection. The trouble in Kashmir is confined to “three and a half districts”, he claimed. The government was keeping a sharp vigil over the situation and the Valley had witnessed several spells of unrest in the past too, he said. The BJP president attacked the Congress for criticising the government, claiming it had no right to do so as the Kashmir problem was an outcome of the policies of its governments since Independence. — PTI