Terror groups will be flushed out of J&K; Centre wants peace to prevail: Rajnath

A day after the BJP pulled out of the Mehbooba Mufti-led government of Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the Centre wants terrorism to end and peace to prevail in Kashmir.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) talks with Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Photo: AFP (File)

NEW DELHI: A day after the BJP pulled out of the Mehbooba Mufti-led government of Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the Centre wants terrorism to end and peace to prevail in Kashmir. "Our only aim is that terrorism should end and peace should prevail in Kashmir and our government will work keeping this in mind," Rajnath Singh was quoted by PTI as saying. He also reiterated the Modi government's resolve to ensure a complete end to terror activities in the Kashmir valley. He warned terrorist groups against any misadventure and said that security forces were prepared to foil any such attempt. Defending the Modi government's Kashmir policy, the Home Minister said the Kashmir issue has been a "very old" one and a major challenge for all governments and will take time to be resolved. "No, Modiji's Kashmir policy is correct. There is no doubt about it. It will take time; as I said, the problem was not born today or yesterday," he said. BJP on Wednesday announced that it was pulling out of its alliance with PDP because it had become "untenable" for the party to continue in the coalition government. Following which, Jammu and Kashmir was on Wednesday put under Governor's rule and NN Vohra assumed charge as the head of the state government. BJP pulled out of alliance with PDP for "national interest" BJP has invoked "national interest" to pull down the Mehbooba Mufti, and government sources indicated a plan for an "all-out" security offensive in the Valley to set the tone for the upcoming general election. The Centre had prepared a blueprint to weed out "Pakistani terrorists" and "anti-national fundamentalists" from Kashmir, reinforcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image as a muscular leader, the Telegraph Calcutta reported quoting its sources. "All out means all out," a key leader in the current establishment said, adding that the impending spell of governor's rule in the state would facilitate unhindered execution of the strategy. Governor's rule not to affect anti-terror operations: Army chief Army chief General Bipin Rawat said the imposition of governors rule in Jammu and Kashmir will not affect anti-terror operations as there was no political interference. "We only stopped our operations during Ramzan. But we saw what happened. The terrorists continued with their actions," IANS quoted General Rawat as saying. "The imposition of Governor's rule will not affect our operations. Our operations will go on like they used to. We don't face any political interference," he said.