We will find permanent solution to Kashmir issue: Rajnath

Pelling (Sikkim), May 21 (IANS) Blaming Pakistan for trying to destabilise and weaken India through violence in Kashmir, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said the BJP-led central government will find a permanent solution to the issues bedevilling the Valley.

Rajnath, who is on a three-day visit to Sikkim since Friday, said the neighbouring country was trying to destabilise India despite the latter's efforts to maintain cordial bilateral relations.

"I want to assure you that our government will find a permanent solution to the Kashmir issue," the Minister said at a public meeting here in western Sikkim.

"The truth is that Kashmir belongs to us, Kashmiris belong to us, and Kashmiriyat also belongs to us...."

Rajnath asserted that India wants cordial relations with all its neighbours, including Pakistan.

"We invited leaders of neighbouring countries, including Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan, to the oath-taking ceremony (of Prime Minister Narendra Modi) in May 2014.

"But, perhaps, they (Pakistan) couldn't understand the initiative we took; even today, they are trying to destabilise, weaken and break India through the Kashmir issue," Rajnath Singh, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, said.