Jaitley blames Pakistan for scuttling dialogue environment

Union Minister for Defence Arun Jaitley on Thursday blamed Pakistan for scuttling environment required for holding bilateral talks between the two neighbours.

Briefing media on the NDA’s third anniversary, Jaitley said every time India took steps to ease tension, Pakistan responded by orchestrating attacks at army bases in Pathankot and Uri. The minister, however, said the forces were “dominating” the LoC to repulse designs of Pakistan army and non-state actors in this side of the border.

His comments came as Army Chief General Bipin Rawat along with top military commanders reached Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday to review the security situation along the border. Intelligence reports suggest that nearly 250 terrorists were waiting to infiltrate from eight launch pads across the LoC.

“The Government of India has taken significant steps to ease the situation in the past. The fact that our prime minister dropped in at Lahore at a social function in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family, were all steps intended to ease the tension. But each one of these have been responded by, let us say, a Pathankot or a Uri or by mutilation of two of our soldiers. And, therefore, that environment which must exist for a talk has been successfully prevented by Pakistan,” Jaitley said.

Despite reports suggesting that the situation in the Valley is at its worst, Jaitley commented it is “better” than what is being made out. “The security forces have been able to build up a lot of pressure on them, and the results, some of which are evident almost on a daily basis. The situation in Kashmir is better than the impression,” the minister stressed.

He though admitted the scenario was challenging only in south Kashmir. Elsewhere in the state it is normal as the two-day meeting of the Goods and Services Tax Council was held in Srinagar recently.