Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said that she was not aware about Burhan Wani was among the three militants trapped in a house in south Kashmir’s Kokernag area. She said in the backdrop of improving situation in the Valley (at that time), there was possibility of other chance (given to Burhan).
Mehbooba made the controversial remark on the sidelines of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party’s foundation day here while speaking to media persons. A select group of party workers and leaders attended the low-key function at the party’s Residency Road headquarters.
A day after Burhan’s killing, the intelligence chief of State Police SM Sahai had told reporters at a Press conference that the Chief Minister being the Home Minister of the State was aware of the operation. Burhan Wani and his two associates were killed by security forces in a “surgical operation” on July 8 evening at Bandoora village in Kokernag. The killing triggered unparalleled public uprising in the Valley that continues even after three weeks.
As many as 48 civilians including three women have been killed in the security forces action to quell the uprising while two policemen were also killed by the protesters. Around 5,000 persons, half of them security personnel, have been wounded in the clashes.
Opposition National Conference slammed Mehbooba’s assertion as “her continued theatrical tendency to lie, deflect responsibility and spread canards”. The party said that the Chief Minister has released lakhs of rupees as reward money from her secret fund for those who took part in the encounter to snuff the Hizb militants.
Mehbooba said that she did not know that Burhan was caught in the encounter. “How can one know everything about every encounterIJ” she asked. “As far as I know, what I heard from the police and the army, who said they only knew that there were three militants inside the house but did not know who they were,” she said.
She said if the security forces knew Wani’s presence it would have been possible to prevent the situation.
“I feel if they knew, perhaps we would not have such a situation when the overall situation in the state was improving, so it could have been a chance,” she said suggesting that Buhan could have been saved.
Quoting police and intelligence agencies she said they insist that they were unaware about Burhan’s presence.
The Chief Minister compared the situation with the aftermath of Afzal Guru’s hanging in February 2013 and attempted to score a point over her archrival Omar Abdullah. She said her government had not much time to contain the situation unlike in 2013 when curferw was imposed in the Valley much before Guru was hanged in Tihar Jail.
“When Afzal Guru was hanged, (then chief minister) Omar (Abdullah) knew, so he made all the arrangements before-hand,” she said.
“We knew nothing and we came to know suddenly. But, despite that, we tried to impose curfew so that children do not come out,” she said.
Earlier, speaking to party workers Mehbooba urged for finding lasting solution to the problems confronting Jammu and Kashmir to make peace a reality in the State and the region. She denounced the “senseless violence” perpetuated on the streets in Kashmir that results in colossal human and economic loss for the Kashmiris.
“let us rise as one to meet the challenges confronting Jammu and Kashmir and make this a turning point in the State’s turbulent history so that our future generations have not to suffer the miseries of violence and bloodshed,” she said.
Mehbooba called upon the country’s political leadership especially the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a renewed effort towards the resolution of J&K’s problems by engaging all the stakeholders. “I am sure the country’s political leadership will pick up the threads and carry forward the reconciliation and resolution process started by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003,” she said and emphasized the need for taking concrete steps to win hearts and minds of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.