‘Wani might’ve got a second chance’

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, said on Thursday that had the security forces, which raided a militant hideout in Kokernag area of southern Anantnag on July 8 and subsequently killed three Hizbul Mujahideen cadres, known beforehand that Burhan Muzaffar Wani was among them, “they may have given him a second chance.” She termed the killing of Burhan as a “coincidence.”

The killing of Burhan, the new-age poster boy of militancy in Kashmir, set off widespread protests and mob violence across the Valley leaving more than 50 people and two policemen dead and thousands injured. Clashes amidst curfews and shutdowns called by separatists have continued.

Ms Mufti, who was speaking to reporters after addressing a rally of her Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) here, said that she was not aware of the operation carried out jointly by J&K police’s counterinsurgency special operations group (SOG) and army’s 19 Rashtriya Rifles at Bamdoora Kokernag. “How would you know that ” she asked.

Earlier this week a newspaper had reported that the chief minister was informed, in writing, of the June 8 raid as well as an operation targeting Burhan Wani in March. Earlier, J&K’s additional director-general of police (CID), S.M. Sahai, on being asked if the chief minister knew about the operation beforehand, had told reporters: “The chief minister, as home minister, is informed of all the activities.”

But Ms Mufti again feigned ignorance and said that she did not know beforehand regarding the security forces taking out Burhan dead during the operation.

“I spoke to the police. I spoke to the army. My information is that they did not know who the militants hiding in that house were before raiding it. Had they known about the presence of Burhan, they may have given him another chance,” she said. She added that since the situation on ground had improved considerably, giving a second chance to Burhan was an option in order to avoid the situation the Valley has been caught in right now in the aftermath of his killing.

She said her predecessor, Omar Abdullah, was informed by the Centre about the decision and timing of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s hanging and his government prepared to brace the situation. “I didn’t know about Burhan’s killing but when I came to know about it, we imposed curfew at various places. Yet, people came out on the streets where there was no curfew,” she said.

Reacting sharply to the chief minister’s assertion, the Opposition — National Conference (NC) — said that she had released reward money for the policemen and soldiers who killed Burhan and that terming it a coincidence is “another shameless gimmick” on her part. “This is nothing but her continued theatrical tendency to lie, deflect responsibility and spread canards as the head of a government that remains invisible, ineffective and unmoved by dozens of killings and mass grief in the Valley,” NC provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani said in a statement here.

He added that it was “ironic and ridiculous” that Ms Mufti has termed Burhan Wani’s killing a “coincidence” while simultaneously having released lakhs of rupees as reward money from the chief minister’s secret fund for those who took part in the encounter. “If Mehbooba Mufti is deluded into thinking that she can try to make a case that she wasn’t aware of the encounter where a special team was dispatched from Srinagar to neutralize Burhan Wani, she is living in her usual fool’s paradise. Sometimes she says she wasn’t informed of the encounter, and then she discloses it was a ‘coincidence’ only to simultaneously release lakhs of money from the CM’s secret fund as a reward for those who took part in the encounter. This is a cruel joke from a completely clueless chief minister,” Mr Wani said.

He also condemned what he said is insensitive and inappropriate statement from CRPF DG that supported the continued use of pellet guns despite their disastrous implications that have resulted in the blinding and maiming of hundreds of young boys and girls in the Valley and termed the state government’s conspicuous silence on this development as shameless. “Are we living in a democracy or are we living in an Orwellian tyrannical system where the security forces and paramilitary forces will decide on policy matters ” he asked. He added that the Union home minister has already failed all expectations in this matter by choosing to not order a ban on pellet guns and “now this has clearly emboldened other voices that remain unmoved at the sight of our blinded young boys and girls.”