Extending an olive branch to the terrorists operating in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked them on Thursday to give up arms and come forward for talks with the government or be prepared to get neutralised at the hands of security forces.
"For vote-bank politics, they (opposition parties) are asking for talks with terrorists. If they want to talk, let them come forward after giving up arms. In the northeast, 10,000 people have surrendered," the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said, addressing a poll rally in this Assembly segment in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district.
This was Mr Shah's fourth rally of the day in Udhampur and Kathua districts, which along with Jammu and Samba districts and three north Kashmir districts of Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora, are scheduled to go to polls in the third and final phase of the Assembly election on October 1.
"Give up arms and come for talks, otherwise our forces will hunt you down," the home minister said, pledging to burry terrorism in "pataal" (under the ground).
He said the BJP has strengthened grassroot-level democracy in Jammu and Kashmir, which is now moving forward on the path of development after suffering immensely due to terrorism for more than three decades.
"The first two phases of polling (on September 18 and September 25) are over and we have a record 55-per cent voting. The time has gone when you were getting elected by a few thousand votes," Mr Shah said, targeting the National Conference (NC), People's Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress leadership.
"The NC and the Congress provided protection to terrorism for 40 years.... We have finished terrorism and opened new avenues of development for Jammu and Kashmir, which is marching forward along with the other parts of the country. We will not rest till terrorism is buried in 'pataal'," the home minister asserted.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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