Home Minister Amit Shah during a rally on the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and. (File/PTI) Home Minister Amit Shah during a rally on the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and. (File/PTI)

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday categorically said there were no restrictions imposed in Kashmir while hitting out at the Opposition for spreading “misinformation” about the situation in the valley.

“Where are the restrictions? It is only in your mind. There are no restrictions. Only misinformation about restrictions is being spread,” Amit Shah said while addressing a seminar on national security in the national capital.

Referring to the Centre’s August 5 decision to scrap special status to J&K under Article 370, Amit Shah said because of the “bold” step taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the state would be the most developed region in the coming 5-7 years.

The home minister also claimed that out of 196 police stations in Kashmir, curfew had been lifted in all but eight stations. Shah also pointed out that over 41,800 people lost their lives in the decades-old militancy in Jammu and Kashmir but no one had raised the issue of human rights violation of jawans, their widows or the children who were orphaned.

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“But people are trying to create a hue and cry over lack of mobile connections for a few days. Lack of phone connection is not a human rights violation,” Shah said, adding that as many as 10,000 new landline connections were set up in J&K in the last two months.

Not a single leader took the side of Pakistan: Amit Shah

Asserting that “all world leaders” who gathered at the recently concluded United Nations General Assembly in New York backed India’s move on Article 370, Amit Shah said it was a big diplomatic victory of PM Modi.

“All world leaders had gathered for seven days (in New York). Not a single leader took the side of Pakistan. They all supported India,” Shah said.

However, China had raised the Kashmir issue at the UN and said that the “dispute” should be peacefully and properly addressed in accordance with the UNSC resolutions and bilateral agreements. To this, India took a strong note and said that the recent developments in the region were “entirely a matter internal” to the country.

Referring to China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s remark at UNGA, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that India expected other countries to respect India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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“We expect that other countries will respect India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and desist from efforts to change the status quo through the illegal so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,” Kumar was quoted as saying by PTI earlier.

(With Inputs from PTI)

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