Raking up a controversy, former Chief Minister of Jammu-Kashmir Omar Abdullah on Tuesday demeaned the anti-terrorism efforts by the Indian Army in Jammu-Kashmir and said, “200 terrorists were killed in the Valley because as more youth joined militancy, and it’s a failure of the government.”
“Government brags that the Army has killed over 200 terrorists. But there’s nothing to be proud of. People joined militancy, which is why you had to kill them.”
“Indian Army killed more terrorists because more and more youth joined militancy. And government’s policies are to be blamed for this,” he added.
Omar Abdullah made these statements in the Jammu Kashmir Assembly.
Earlier in the day, a ruckus broke out in the Jammu-Kashmir Assembly as Engineer Rashid marshalled out of the Assembly premises. The ruckus broke out when the opposition parties in the Assembly accused the speaker of the House as the speaker of the BJP-PDP coalition government in the Valley.
Engineer Rashid then tried to enter the well of the House and demanded the release of the Kashmiri youth, who have been arrested on the charge of playing Pakistani National Anthem during a cricket match in Bandipora district. Rashid said,
“The Jammu-Kashmir government and police are using high-handedness against the Kashmiri youth as there is nothing wrong in playing National Anthem of Pakistan.”
Earlier, Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference working president Omar Abdullah on Tuesday questioned the “actual role” of Dineshwar Sharma, appointed by the Centre as the interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing in the state assembly, Omar said that there was no clarity in Sharma’s mandate.
“We do not know what Dineshwar Sharma’s role is? Is he is a spokesman, an interlocutor or a special representative? Is there a time frame or will he be here indefinitely?” he asked.
He further said that the job of the representative should be to discuss major issues with actual stakeholders, but as said, he is not clear with his mandate.
Attacking the Jammu and Kashmir Government, Omar said terrorism had increased in the state under the leadership of Mehbooba Mufti.
“You blamed me of creating one Burhan Wani; how many Burhans have you created in last one-and-a-half years? You (the Jammu and Kashmir Government) told me I was responsible for giving birth to Burhan Wani. But did you for once think that as to how many Burhan Wanis you have given birth to in these one-and-a-half years? If I am responsible for one, how many are you responsible for? You should think about it,” he added.
Burhan was a 22-year-old Hizbul commander who was killed by the security forces in Kashmir in July 2016.
Following his death, the valley was in a state of lockdown for a long time.
