New Delhi, Oct 5: Blaming Pakistan for the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh Friday claimed that 90 per cent people in the state would like to participate the panchayat and urban local bodies polls scheduled this month.
The home minister, however, admitted that there were difficulties in bringing back underworld don and 1993 Mumbai serial blasts mastermind Dawood Ibrahim, currently hiding in Pakistan.
Singh said approximately 6,000 violent incidents had taken place in Jammu and Kashmir in 1995 and the number has come down to about 360 in 2017.
“I do agree that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir should improve. But, the problem that we face is mostly because of Pakistan.
“We have always tried to improve relations with Pakistan. But the country will not mend its ways. It continues to sponsor terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said speaking at the HT Leadership Summit here.
Referring to the forthcoming elections to the panchayat and urban local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir, the home minister said 90 per cent people of the state would like to get involve in the poll process, which the current government has started after a long break.
When asked about the several BJP candidates getting elected to the local bodies unopposed, Singh said in the recently held panchayat elections in West Bengal, 43 per cent candidates won uncontested and such things are not uncommon.
Talking about the now-snapped BJP-PDP alliance, he said both the parties had joined hands, honouring the mandate of the last state assembly elections, but the “experiment did not succeed”.
