Mehbooba Asks Police To Differentiate Between Militants & Their Families As Forces Kill Two More Militants

As the Army and Jammu and Kashmir Police intensified anti-insurgency operations across the valley killing two more militants today, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has sounded caution asking the government forces to differentiate between a militant, his family, his parents, his siblings and his children. “We cannot see them equally”, Mehbooba said addressing a passing out parade of Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Mehbooba’s instructions to the police have come a day after Jammu and Kashmir government announced ex-gratia relief to Khalid Muzaffer Wani, brother of Hizbul Mujahedeen commander, Burhan Muzaffer Wani, whose killing on July 8 this year led to widespread protests. 

25-year-old year Khalid was the elder brother of Burhan and was pursuing a postgraduate degree in political science from the Indira Gandhi National Open University. The army had then claimed he was an over ground militant and was killed during an encounter.

However, the family had said he had no links with militancy and was killed in cold blood. Since the Army had claimed that Khalid was killed in encounter, former chief minister Omar Abdullah sought an inquiry against the army after the state government announced ex-gratia. "Since the government has cleared Burhan's brother as innocent, will there be an inquiry into how the army killed an innocent person in 2015?" 

On Tuesday a government notification had said that ex-gratia had been cleared for the next of kin of 17 people, including Khalid.

Under ex-gratia, a family of civilian killed by militants or in cross-fire between militants and government or an innocent victim of security force and army action is entitled to a compensation of up to Rs 4 lakh or a government job. 

Mehbooba in her address said the police have great responsibility. She said preventive detention law, Public Safety Act (PSA) should be used against jungle smugglers and those involved in inducing youth to drug addiction. She said the police have to make atmosphere such that the law shouldn’t be invoked against 80-year-old person or 20-year-old youth. The Mehbooba Mufti government is facing criticism for booking over 8000 people under different FIRs and arresting nearly 600 persons under the PSA since the unrest broke in Kashmir after Burhan’s killing. 

Mehbooba said the atmosphere in the Valley will not turn peaceful if the police suspect everyone.

“If you look at everybody with suspicion and oppression, we can never normalize the situation. We have to differentiate between militant and his family,” Mehbooba said.   

“We all have to create an environment so that all these laws will be gradually revoked. I and my ministers cannot do this alone and J&K police have a primary role in this,” Mehbooba said. 

“I saw many officers were injured during stone pelting. I heard how many officers persuaded militant during an encounter to surrender and return home. I am proud of you and trust you,” she added.

Mehbooba again pitched for the dialogue with Pakistan and said, “I will tell you that we can create an atmosphere for dialogue. We can make J&K a bridge of peace between India and Pakistan.”

Mehbooba said Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, took the bold decision of visiting Lahore to minimize the differences. She said that the Prime Minister would again take such bold decisions to get the people of the State out of the quagmire of present times. “We have to pick up the threads from where Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee left during his tenure as Prime Minister which ensured not only a decade long peace on borders but also opened minds and channels of communication on the two sides of the divide”, she said.

Mehbooba said that police shouldn’t be forced to use gun or pellet gun in J&K. “Try not to use pellet gun and keep restraint till the time we ban this pellet gun,” she said as the state government is facing condemnation from the human rights groups for visually impairing around 1100 youths including girls in pelt firing since July 8.

Meanwhile, the government forces Wednesday killed two militants including top Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander, Abu Bakr in two separate encounters in Kashmir.

Abu Bakr was active militant in north Kashmir since 2009. Police said he was killed Wednesday morning during a gunfight at Bomai village of Sopore, around 60 km northwest of Srinagar.

In Frame : Basit Rasool Dar(22)

In another anti-militancy operation, government forces killed a 22-year old Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant, Basit Rasool Dar, at Dachnipora village, around 50 km south of Srinagar. The police said the gunfight broke out in the area after security forces started search operation following inputs about the presence of militants.

Basit was son of a senior banker. He was studying Civil Engineering at Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) in Awantipora. He left his degree midway after Hizb commander, Burhan Wani’s killing in July this year.

Following his killing, protests broke out in many parts of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. Hundreds attended the funeral of Basit amid pro-freedom sloganeering.

Before joining the militancy, Basit apart from pursuing engineering, was also writing a blog. 

In an introduction of his blog, Basit writes, “I am pursuing civil engineering from Islamic University Of Science And Technology Awantipora but I like painting, writing and exploring new things. I love My Kashmir and I start writing for Kashmir but then I start writing on other topics too. I am from Marhama Bijbehara.”