Srinagar: While expressing grief over civilian killings in Kulgam on Wednesday, the opposition National Conference said that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti should ‘introspect and acknowledge the damage caused by the government’s anti-people policies.’
“It is time for PDP-BJP government and especially the chief minister to introspect and acknowledge the damage caused by their anti-people policies and actions throughout the state,” NC president Farooq Abdullah said, expressing profound grief and sorrow over the civilian killings in Kulgam.
Abdullah, Member of Parliament from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, extended his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.
NC working president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah has also expressed profound grief over civilian killings and expressed solidarity with the bereaved families.
The former chief minister also said that the encounter in Kulgam has been ‘costly’.
1 soldier dead, 4 civilians killed in what the police claim was cross fire, numerous injuries & at the end of all that the operation is called off. This has been a costly encounter. https://t.co/Av18fMF5RD
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) April 11, 2018
Omar said it was for the chief minister and her conscious to answer for her government’s continued “supervision of bloodshed and oppression in Kashmir”.
Meanwhile, NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar presided over a meeting of party leaders and legislators at NC headquarters Nawa-e Subah and expressed dismay over the “abject failure” of the chief minister.
“It is really unfortunate that civilians as young as 13-year-old are dying and that there is no accountability for such killings,” Sagar said.
He alleged Jammu and Kashmir has suffered at every level ever since PDP-BJP government assumed office.
“Whether it is Jammu, Srinagar or any other part of the state, mayhem and chaos continues to run amok. We all are witness to the deteriorating situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Deaths and maiming of the worst order have now become a routine,” he said.
Four civilians were killed in the clashes which erupted near the gunfight site in Khudwani. However the police in a statement said that the civilians were killed in ‘crossfire’.
The search operation at the gunfight site was called off by the forces after no bodies of the militants were recovered from the debris of the house which was blasted during the gunfight.
Earlier, forces said a search operation was launched to retrieve the militant bodies from the site. However, no militant bodies were recovered from the debris. Reports said that the militants managed to escape from the site.
Forces had earlier detonated the house in which the militants were trapped by using explosives, razing it to the ground. Two adjacent houses also caught fire. To fight the trapped militants, Army had even used helicopter gun ships.
