Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 2: The BJP has sparked off a controversy over the National Conference president Farooq Abdullah’s statement viewing the sudden spurt in terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir as a possible attempt to destabilise the newly-elected government headed by his son Omar Abdullah and suggested that as far as possible the terrorists should be captured for further investigation instead of being killed in encounters.
Mr Abdullah had said interrogating captured terrorists could provide valuable insights into the broader networks orchestrating these attacks. He said the terrorists should be captured rather than killed, in order to uncover the masterminds behind the recent surge in terror attacks across Jammu and Kashmir.
Also a former chief minister, Mr Abdullah also demanded an investigation into the recent Budgam terror attack in which two migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh were grievously injured, and said he had doubt that it was being done by the people who were trying to destabilise the government in Jammu and Kashmir.
“It should be investigated. How is it that the government has come and this is happening? I have a doubt that is it done by the people who were trying to destabilise the government…If they (terrorists) are caught then we will get to know who is doing this. They should not be killed, they should be caught and asked who is behind them…We should check if there is an agency who is trying to destabilise Omar Abdullah,” he said.
He took a dim view of closing the terror attack issues every time by blaming Pakistan. On being asked if Pakistan should be blamed every time for terrorist attacks in J&K, including the recent Budgam terror attack, Farooq Abdullah said, “There is no question of this, I would say that there should be an investigation into this.”
“What is there to investigate? The world knows Pakistan is behind the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir,” the state BJP president Ravinder Raina said. Questing the former chief minister’s doubts over the issue, Mr Raina said, “Farooq Abdullah knows that this terrorism is coming from Pakistan… This is a well-known fact. What is there to investigate in this? He knows that the terrorist attacks that are taking place in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan and terrorist organizations are involved in this… We all should support our army, police and security forces… We have to fight unitedly against those who are the enemies of humanity…”
The former deputy CM and BJP leader Kavinder Gupta also questioned Mr Abdullah’s statement and described the attack as a cowardly act during festivities. “There are some people here who are working as per the instructions of Pakistan, this is a cowardly attack on a festive occasion. This is wrong…there is a need to identify people who are carrying out these attacks. There are so many people here who still work as Over Ground Workers and Underground Workers,” he said.
The Nationalist Congress Party chief and veteran leader Sharad Pawar, however, took a serious note of the issues raised by Farooq Abdullah and said the Centre should take his words seriously. “Farooq Abdullah is the tallest personality of Jammu and Kashmir…He spent his life serving the people of Jammu and Kashmir. I have no doubt about his integrity and honesty. If such a leader is making any statement then the central government, especially the home ministry, should take it seriously and try to work out on how that situation can be resolved,” Sharad Pawar said in Baramati on the sidelines of an election rally in Maharashtra.
NC MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi wondered “why this sudden rise in these attacks immediately after the recent elections.” Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra strongly condemned the attack, terming it most unfortunate, and prayed for a speedy recovery of the injured. Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari described the attack as the worst form of cowardice.
On Friday evening, terrorists fired upon two non-locals in Mazhama, in the Magam area of Budgam district. After the incident security forces cordoned off the whole area to nab the attackers. “Terrorists fired upon two non-locals in Mazhama, in the Magam area of Budgam district. The injured were immediately shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, where their condition is said to be stable. The whole area was cordoned off by the security forces to nab the attackers,” Official sources said.
This was the fifth terror attack in the Kashmir valley since a new government was formed in the Union Territory last month. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah were among the leaders who condemned the attack.
Earlier in the day on Saturday, an encounter broke out between security forces and terrorists in Srinagar’s Khanyar area of Jammu and Kashmir. On October 29, the security forces neutralised three terrorists in a high-stakes encounter in Akhnoor, Jammu and Kashmir, following an attack on an Army convoy.
On October 24, two soldiers and two Army porters were killed while another porter and a soldier were injured in a terrorist attack on an Army vehicle six kilometres from the popular tourist destination of Gulmarg. Earlier that day, terrorists shot at and injured Shubam Kumar, a labourer from Uttar Pradesh, in the Tral area of Pulwama district.
On October 20, a local doctor and six non-local labourers were gunned down by terrorists at a tunnel construction site in the Gagangir area of Ganderbal. A labourer from Bihar was shot dead by terrorists in Shopian district on October 18, a day after the Omar Abdullah government was installed in the office in Jammu and Kashmir.