Political storm erupts over death of civilian in J&K

Srinagar: The death of six civilians in Jammu and Kashmir’s counter Kulgam district on Sunday evoked widespread condemnation by political parties in Kashmir.

“Every day is a black day for Kashmiris and New Delhi seems to have decided to silence Kashmiris on all costs. Those who have been misleading world community and defaming Kashmiris by calling few unfortunate killings of Kashmiris Pandits as ethnic cleansing should come forward and explain why Kashmir is being turned into an experimental lab just to avoid a resolution of Kashmir dispute,” Independent MLA Engineer Rashid said in a statement here.

He alleged that the security agencies never want death and destruction to end as it serves their ‘vested interest’.

Former chief minister and NC vice-president Omar Abdullah termed the killings in Kulgam as “terrible news” and asked “how long can the ground realities be ignored and living in denial of bad situation in Kashmir.”

“Terrible news coming out from Kulgam. May the deceased find place in Jannat. Alienating the people in the fight against militancy is a sure fire recipe for losing the fight. How long can we go on ignoring the ground realities & living in denial about how bad things are in Kashmir?” he tweeted.

PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti also expressed grief and shock over the death of six civilians and injuries to scores others and appealed governor Satya Pal Malik to ensure that all standard operating procedures are strictly adhered to while dealing with the security situations and all the security agencies are advised to take precautions to avoid any collateral damage.

“I’m extremely saddened by the news of Kulgam incident, where civilians were once again caught in the crossfire of violence, thus adding fuel to the already volatile situation. All words of condemnation, condolence sound very hollow at this tragedy,” she said.

CPI (M) leader and MLA Kulgam Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said the killings have become everyday norm in Kashmir now.

“It is really so painful to see such killings happening everyday in Kashmir. But unfortunately, New Delhi is watching all this like a mute spectator and seems in no mood to address the issues politically,” he said. He added, “There is a deep sense of alienation among Kashmiris, especially youth. It is this deepening alienation and anger which is driving young and old towards the deadly encounter sites”.

‘Joint Resistance Ladership (JRL)’ an alliance of key separatist leaders called for a Valley-wide shutdown on Monday against the civilian killings. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq tweeted, “To strongly condemn & protest the mayhem unleashed in Kulgam by the ruthless Indian state in which so far 5 civilians & 3 armed youth killed besides injuries to tens of scores of injured, JRL calls for complete #Shutdown tomorrow, JRL will hold a #ProtestSitin on Tuesday at Lal Chowk.

Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti (KPSS) extended its support to the shutdown call saying “we also feel pain of killing of several civilians and injuries to more than forty others during the cordon-and-search operation in Kulgam”. Its president Sanjay K Tickoo said in a statement, “It is mandatory for security forces to sanitize the area where encounter happens to safeguard the lives of the civilians. It seems that the security forces take these basic things casually, which resulted in today’s incident.”

He added, “While Kashmir is being pushed back to the 1990 era by alienating people policies by the political parties, the Central establishment is enjoying the so-called victory in Kashmir Valley and is not bothered to diffuse current political turmoil in the Valley”.