Srinagar: Union Home Minister,Amit Shah on Monday decided to extend his 3-day visit to J&K in order to spend the night with CRPF troopers at the martyrs memorial in Pulwama district.

He will have dinner at the CRPF camp in Lethpora and stay with the soldiers tonight

Official sources said that Shah has decided to extend his visit so that he can spend the night with CRPF troopers at Lethpora martyr memorial in Pulwama to pay tribute to the 42 CRPF troopers who were killed in a terror suicide attack in April 2019.

“He will have dinner at the CRPF camp in Lethpora and stay with the soldiers tonight,” sources said.

Shah paid obeisance at the Mata Kheer Bhawani temple shrine in Tullamulla town of Ganderbal district earlier on Monday.

Earlier, addressing a youth rally at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) on the banks of the Dal Lake in Srinagar, Amit Shah lashed out at former Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah.

“Dr. Farooq Sahib has suggested that we should talk to Pakistan. Let me clarify, if we will talk, we will talk to people of Jammu and Kashmir and its youth only, no one else.

“Today, I am speaking my heart. I was posed a series of questions. Today, I am speaking without a bullet proof shield,” Shah told the gathering wearing a traditional Kashmiri tweed over-garment called ‘Pheran’.

He said no one will be allowed to disrupt the development and peace journey of the Valley.

“Why Dr. Farooq and Mehbooba failed to do what BJP did in just two years.

“I am often asked by some people why curfew was imposed in Kashmir and why the Internet was snapped. Let me answer today.

“This was done to protect and save the lives of our youth. We didn’t want vested interests and anti-peace elements to exploit the situation and push our youth on roads to face bullets.

“This step was taken to save the lives of Kashmiri youth.”