Want to improve relations with Pak but...: Rajnath

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said India is ready to start dialogue with Pakistan if it stops terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing an election rally in this assembly segment of Ramban district in support of BJP candidate Mohd Saleem Bhat, Singh said Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to J-K was revoked to end the misery of the people and make the region prosperous.

"Pakistan do one thing that is stop giving support of terrorism. Who would not like to improve relations with neighbouring countries? Because I know the reality that you can change a friend but not your neighbour. We want improved relations with Pakistan but first of all they should stop terrorism," Singh told a well-attended gathering here.

The defence minister said when Pakistan stops sponsoring terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, India will start dialogue with them.

"Among those who fell to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, 85 percent were Muslims. Terror incidents used to be a routine affair in Kashmir. Were Hindus being killed in the terror acts? I have been a home minister and I know the highest number of Muslims lost their lives in the incidents of terror," Singh said.

Earlier in the day, the defence minister addressed an election rally in nearby Ramban in support of party candidate Rakesh Singh Thakur and asked the residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to come and join India as "we consider you our own unlike Pakistan which treats you as foreigners".

The Union minister asserted there is a sea change in the overall security situation in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.

The senior BJP leader came down heavily on the National Conference-Congress alliance over its poll promise of restoring Article 370 and said it is impossible as long as the BJP is there.

He said the "sea change" witnessed in the overall security situation in J-K since August 2019 means that youths now carry laptops and computers in their hands instead of pistols and revolvers.

Now, nobody dares to fire bullets at people in Srinagar, he said.

"Support the BJP to form the next government in J-K so that we can facilitate massive development in the region. There will be so much development that the people in PoK on seeing this should say that we do not want to live with Pakistan and instead will go to India," the defence minister said.

Praising the people of J&K as skilful, hardworking and dedicated, he said if the BJP comes to power, J-K will emerge as the number one and modern state in the country. "I am saying it on the performance of the central government after Narendra Modi took over as prime minister in 2014. India has moved to fourth (fifth) spot from the 11th in terms of economy."

"There is a requirement for a skilful and strong-hearted person at the post of PM and chief minister for smooth functioning of the government. There used to be an atmosphere of terror in Kashmir before 2019, today no one can dare to open fire from a pistol or revolver. This is the result of a strong leader being in power," he said.

Singh said when he was the home minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was the chief minister in J-K, his only concern was to bring the security situation in J-K to normal..

"I led a parliamentary delegation to meet the Hurriyat Conference as we were ready for talks with them for restoration of peace. Sharad Yadav along with others went to meet the Hurriyat leaders but they shut their doors. People were demanding withdrawal of cases against innocent and minor children and I talked to Mehbooba and asked her to release them. We did everything but the way they (Hurriyat leaders) should have responded, the did not," he said.

In 2016, a delegation comprising CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D Raja, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav and RJD's Jay Prakash Narayan had gone to meet hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani at his Srinagar residence where he was under house arrest. However, Geelani snubbed the delegation and did not even open the doors.

The BJP's Bhat is pitted against former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president and ex-minister Vikar Rasool Wani who is looking for a hat-trick of wins from the Banihal seat.

Bhat faces a stiff challenge from the National Conference's Sjjad Shaheen and the PDP's Imtiyaz Shan.

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a massive rally in his support in Sangaldan area on September 4.