Parliament Monsoon Session live: Congress brings up Kashmir violence issue in Rajya Sabha

The Parliament Monsoon Session of the Rajya Sabha kicked off on 18 July.

To start the session, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad brought up the issue of the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir.

At 3.10 pm, Derek O'Brien of TMC, West Bengal addressed the house and said:

- If you want to Digital India. Make sure you understand Digital India. Else, it will become divisive India.

- Union government has mishandled the situation. Ordinary citizens have lost their lives.

- Digital media can be divisive media, please harness this medium properly

- Security measures and hard policing are fine but there need to be a political process (Kashmir unrest).

At 2.45pm, Bharatiya Janata Party leader of House Arun Jaitley addressed the Rajya Sabha over the Kashmir issue.

Highlights of Jaitley's address:

- Pakistan has never reconciled to the idea of Jammu and Kashmir being a part of India.

- The battle in Jammy and Kashmir is between the country and separatists.

- The PDP-BJP alliance was dictated by the election results.

- There are times when parties should rise above political differences for the nation.

- We appeal to the youngsters of Kashmir to stay away from the unrest.

Addressing the House, Ghulam Nabi Azad had said:

- The prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir has many aspects - the internal situation, the role of state and central government and external forces.

- People have been killed in all 10 districts of J&K, maximum damage has been reported from four districts of South Kashmir.

- Should locals be treated same way we treat militants? Should the same bullets used on militants be used on the innocent people of J&K? (Militants ke beech aur aam janta ke beech kuch antar hona chahiye ya nahi?)

- We stand with the government to end militancy but we don't support this kind of treatment to civilians (Militancy ko khatam karne ke liye hum aapke sath hain. Lekin Kashmir mein aam janta ke sath ye suluk ho,maaf kijiye hum us mein shaamil nahi hona chahenge aapke saath)

- Governments are run on trust and faith, but the people of J&K have a sense of mistrust towards the current government.

- I am not saying that Kashmiri people had complete faith when Congress was in power, but there was a sense of trust in some corner.

- Around 1,800 including women and youth are injured

- There is no district in the valley that has not seen these kind of events.This is very worrying

- It is a matter of pride that despite having such a huge Muslim population, there is a negligible impact of the Islamic State in India

- The result of not taking action taken against MPs of ruling party who make inflammable statements can be seen in Kashmir.

- Pellet guns were not used during Haryana riots.

- Why was disproportionate force used against kids, women and old people?

- The PDP-BJP coalition is misfit to tackle the problem of Kashmir.

- Despite a 10-day curfew why is the situation still not under? This means that the hurt has spread far deeper.

- There is no press freedom in Kashmir today, no cable, no internet. I am not in favour of this.

- Pakistan is observing black day, but every day should be a black day considering the kind of things that occur there.