Pulwama attack showed Modi's failed Kashmir policy : Rahul

Slamming Prime Minister for his failure to prevent the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF soldiers were martyred, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the incident showed the Prime Minister's failed Kashmir policy.

Interacting with the students of Stella Maris College for Women here, he said, without going into the subsequent air strike by the IAF on JeM terror camps in Pakistan, asked why Mr Modi failed to prevent the Pulwama attack and sought to know what the NDA government had done to protect the security forces.

The Pulwama incident showed failure of Modi's Kashmir policy, he added.

He said "Pakistan will continue to support terror and we have to counter that. But that was only one aspect of the problem''.

Stating insurgency could not be fought without the support of the local people, Rahul said the Modi Government failed to end the sense of alienation among the Kashmiris.

While it was necessary to stop militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, one must also 'embrace the people' of the state, He said and added that it was necessary to engage with the people of Jammu and Kashmir to secure a better future.

On bringing peace back in Jammu and Kashmir, he said the first step was to build the bridge to the people there. It was built between 2004-2014 during the UPA government due to which terror attacks had come down drastically and power was given to the people by holding elections in the state.

When the UPA was in power, it adopted the 'strategic approach' of taking the people along in the fight against terror and as a result violence came down between 2004 and 2014.

"Compare this with the spike in incidents in the last five years", he said, adding, ''if Modi embrace the Kashmiris, then the people there will embrace him''.