Centre following Vajpayee's mantra of humanity in J&K: Jaitley

Srinagar: Union Minister Arun Jaitley today said the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was following the path of “humanity” shown by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Jammu and Kashmir, citing example of Budgam firing incident in which nine soldiers were indicted by the Army. “Since the Modi government came to power, it has been our policy that if injustice has been done, the matter will be investigated and (if found true), it will be set right,” the Union Finance Minister said during an interaction with civil society organised by BJP in Srinagar. [caption id=“attachment_1832895” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. PTI[/caption] Jaitley said while some people, including the opponents of BJP, were raking up Vajpayee’s statement that issues of Jammu and Kashmir will be resolved within the ambit of ‘insaniyat’ (humanity), the present government at Centre was following it. “In early months, I was also the Defence Minister. The (Chattergam) incident which resulted in the death of two youth and injuries to two others (happened). As soon as we came to know, I got a message from Prime Minister Modi asking me to investigate the incident and find the truth. “I investigated the incident from both sides. Within two hours, I sent out a message in twitter as the defence minister, condemning the incident and apologising for it. This has happened perhaps for the first time in the history of India,” he said. Two youth were killed while two others were injured in firing by army in Chattergam area of Budgam district on 3 November. The inquiry ordered by the army was completed within three weeks. Jaitley said he directed the army to probe the matter in an honest manner. “Next day, we told the army to send officials to the families of the deceased youth and investigate the matter with honesty. Perhaps for the first time, the army has found its personnel guilty in such a short time,” he said. Jaitley said the change in thinking came after his interaction with a college girl in 2010 when he was part of the All Party Delegation that visited Kashmir at the peak of summer agitation that year. “She told us that she is a citizen of the country and does not support the separatists. But she also said that she did not want to see policemen outside her house or being asked to show identity cards several times en route college,” he said. Jaitley said people living anywhere in the country should enjoy same rights. Elaborating on ‘insaniyat’, Jaitley said it does not each anyone to resort to terrorism or work against the nation. “Now insaniyat does not say we indulge in terrorism, insaniyat does not teach us to take to a gun and kill the others, insaniyat does not say that security forces kill an innocent in retaliation,” he said. “Insaniyat does not say that a common man, who has been wronged, should not be heard. Insaniyat does not say that one should work to break this country,” he said. Jaitley said ‘Insaniyat’ envisages a civilised society. “India is the biggest democracy in the world where everyone enjoys equal rights. If anyone violates these rights, there will be action against the violator,” he said. PTI