Srinagar: PDP Patron and Member of Parliament, Muzaffar Hussain Baig raised the issue of civilian deaths in Jammu and Kashmir in the Lok Sabha. He pointed out recent incidents that he said indicated a rise in civilian deaths in the Valley and called for steps be taken to control such incidents, or risk promoting separatist feelings among residents.

Meanwhile Last Week Muzaffar Hussain Baig in an Interview said that If J&K’s special position in the Constitution is restored, then people might vote for India if a plebiscite is held, the Peoples Democratic Party patron

During a discussion  titled ‘Kashmir: The Way Forward’ in New Delhi, Baig said if the special position of J&K is restored and different constitutional provisions like Article 370 and Article 35A protected, “then there is a possibility that they (people) might vote for India if the plebiscite is held.”

“The bitter reality is that all promises made with Kashmiris have been forgotten and shelved,” he said.

In today’s Kashmir, Baig said, political parties have a responsibility.

“They haven’t fulfilled promises made to the people of Kashmir from time to time”.

Baig said that stone pelting is an old tradition in Kashmir. “But today youth and children are pelting stones (on forces) with a religious purpose and not only shallow politics.  They (youth and children) and their mothers and people who come out in thousands to protest think if a youth dies in stone pelting, he is a martyr and he will go to paradise,” he said.

“Today when a 14-year-old child dies, his mother thinks he will go to paradise. They don’t come out and die for the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir but they die to achieve martyrdom,” Baig said.

“This is the situation in Kashmir today. Today’s youth has control of situation, whether it is hatred against India or there is ISI, whatever may be the cause, but these people are dying with a religious purpose,” he said.

He said during 2010, separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani had asked youth to not pelt stones on forces.

“But they didn’t listen to him. Stone pelting is an age-old tradition in Kashmir. Kashmir youth would pelt Mughal soldiers with stones. It is nothing new,” he said.