Kashmir mainstream politicians more dangerous than Separatists: Union Minister Jitendra Singh

The minister alleged that while separatists are separatists only by convenience and not by conviction, the so-called mainstream leaders alternately switch sides by convenience.

JAMMU: Union minister Jitendra Singh said Sunday the "so-called" mainstream politicians of Kashmir are more "dangerous" than separatist leaders whose stand is relatively predictable.

"The so-called mainstream politicians of Kashmir are more dangerous than separatist leaders, because the stand of separatists is relatively predictable but that of these mainstream politicians is absolutely unpredictable and subject to variations depending upon the political expediency of the situation", Singh said while addressing a seminar on the eve of human rights day at the BJP headquarters, Mukherjee Bhawan, here.

He alleged that while separatists are separatists only by convenience and not by conviction, the so-called mainstream leaders alternately switch sides by convenience.

Coming down heavily on what he described as "selective" condemnation of human rights violation, Singh said, "The Kashmir-centric political parties are quick to point an accusing finger at a security person even on the basis of unsubstantiated charges because they know, there will be no risk of retaliation, since the soldier is bound to follow a certain discipline.

But the same protagonists of human rights, he alleged, neither have the courage nor the conviction to call a terrorist a terrorist.

Describing Kashmir as a fertile ground for cultivating false intellectual pretensions, Singh said, much harm has been done by such "intellectual terrorism" which supplements the nexus of terrorists and their perpetrators.

Referring to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee's mysterious death as the "first major human rights violation in the state after Independence", the Union minister accused the Congress party and the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of not responding to the request by Mukherjee's mother and by Praja Parishad to institute an impartial inquiry.

He also referred to the human rights violation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, different categories of Pak refugees and those prosecuted for peaceful protests during the Amarnath agitation.

While fair condemnation of human rights has a place in democracy, Singh cautioned, there can be no room for politicisation of human rights at the cost of nation's integrity and sovereignty.