Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday made an appeal to all political parties in the state to take part in the panchayat and urban local body elections to be held in Jammu and Kashmir. The appeal by the Home Minister comes after the National Conference and the PDP announced that it would boycott the elections.

The appeal by Mr. Singh was made just after the two major regional parties – the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party – made an announcement that they would avoid the elections and would not take part in it due to the center not making its stand clear over the Article 35A of the Constitution.

“I would like to appeal that all the political parties should participate in the political process. This will provide an opportunity to them to interact with the people,” Mr. Singh said at a press conference here.

A 1954 Presidential Order incorporated Article 35A in the constitution and accorded special rights and privileges to the Jammu and Kashmir citizens.

The Article does not allow a woman to own property for marrying a person outside the state and it was challenged in the Supreme Court and the issue is still under consideration.

When questioned, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that India has done its level best to improve its all kinds of relations with Pakistan and as a proof of that cited the visit made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the country to buttress his point.

“But we cannot change the behavior of Pakistan. They will have to understand how to behave with a neighbor,” he said.

Earlier to that, Mr. Singh had inaugurated two smart fence pilot projects along the Indo-Pak border near here.

“Border security is our topmost priority. I am happy to inaugurate two pilot projects under CIBMS (Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System) today.

“We have already identified vulnerable areas and gaps on all borders,” he said.

Mr. Singh further added that the government was in the process of upgrading border infrastructure, and till now over 600 km roads have already been constructed in mainly border areas and several hundreds of the border outposts have been built.

“Initially the CIBMS project will be implemented to cover gaps in the physical fencing on the border. Subsequently, these technological solution will be implemented on the entire border,” he said.

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