Farooq on Kashmir Militant Attack: After three terrorists were killed and four security personnel were injured in three encounters in three districts of Kashmir on Saturday, Farooq Abdullah has alleged a domestic conspiracy to destabilize the government of his son Omar Abdullah. His gesture is believed to be towards BJP.
The chief of the ruling National Conference has questioned why attacks have increased since an elected government took power, hinting at “agency” involvement and demanding an “independent investigation”. Farooq denied any Pakistani role in the violence. On the other hand, the local BJP has hit back by blaming Pakistan.
Media reports say the Kashmir region has witnessed a dramatic increase in militancy in the fortnight since the National Conference government came to power. In view of this, many people have raised questions on the timing of the violence. The firing in Srinagar’s Khanyar area came after months of peace.
Kashmir Inspector General of Police V.K. Birdhi said LeT terrorist Usman Lashkari, who was allegedly involved in several attacks including the killing of a police inspector, has been killed in a Srinagar encounter. Two CRPF jawans and two policemen were injured but their condition is stable. On the other hand, in Shangas of South Kashmir, security forces killed two terrorists hiding in the forest. Police said a third operation was underway in Bandipore, where the firing started on Friday evening.
Since Omar was sworn in on October 16, nearly half a dozen attacks and three firings have taken place in the valley, in which 15 people have been killed and several injured. On Friday, terrorists shot and injured two migrant laborers from Uttar Pradesh in a village in Budgam.
Farooq has said that there should be an investigation, how is it happening that a government has come and these things are happening? I suspect that this is the work of those who want to destabilize this government. Why wasn’t this happening earlier? Why today?
He said the terrorists involved in the Srinagar firing should not have been killed but should have been arrested and interrogated so that they could reveal who was behind the attacks. He said that efforts are being made to create crisis. If they were caught, it would become clear who was doing it.
When asked about Pakistan’s possible involvement, Farooq dismissed it and said that an “agency” could be involved.
Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina criticized Farooq, saying Pakistan was behind terrorism and there was no need to investigate the involvement of any other agency.
