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Mehbooba, Omar visit slain YouTuber Amreen Bhat’s home; slam Central, J&K governments
People’s Democratic Party(PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference(NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah visited the home of slain YouTuber Amreen Bhat at Chadoora on Friday
People’s Democratic Party(PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference(NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah visited the home of slain TV artist and YouTuber, Amreen Bhat at Chadoora on Friday.
Both the former chief ministers expressed condolences to the family of Bhat at their homes in Hushroo Chadoora, a day-and-a-half after gunmen opened fire on the prominent video maker on Wednesday evening killing her and injuring her 10-year-old nephew. The police said that three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists were responsible for her killing.
While Mufti slammed the Central government for their alleged muscular policy which, she said, has deteriorated the situation further in Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah said that the government should seriously think over how to stop the targeted innocent killings in the Valley which has been worrying everybody here.
“The killings of innocent Kashmiris have become a routine like those of Rahul Bhat, Shoab Ganai, Saifullah Qadri and now Amreen Bhat. And the Central government is unmoved,” Mufti told mediapersons after the visit.
“Their muscular policy and the policy of coercion have led to further deterioration of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. And they have been shouting before the world that things have improved in J&K. Nothing has improved in J&K. Every day innocents are getting killed in J&K,” she said.
Mufti slammed the BJP saying their government sees J&K through a religious and security prism.
“Unfortunately, the Central government or the BJP government sees J&K through security and on religious grounds. Since it is a Muslim majority state, they don’t bother if people get killed. Instead of improving, the situation has deteriorated,” she said.
On Friday, police said that the two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists - suspected to be involved in the killing of TV artist Amreen Bhat - have been shot dead in a late-night encounter in the town of Awantipora.
“The two terrorists - Shahid Mushtaq Bhat and Farhan Habib - had killed the 35-year-old TV artist on the instruction of LeT Commander Lateef,” said inspector general of police Vijay Kumar.
Mufti expressed surprise as to how those responsible for the innocent killings get killed within 12 to 24 hours every time.
“And it is strange that whenever any incident (of killing takes place), within 12 or 24 hours there are announcements (by security forces) that those who have done those incidents were killed. I don’t want to comment on this further,” she said.
Mufti said that Amreen was a martyr. “She was our daughter who was earning her livelihood to take care of her father and family. I believe those who are killed while earning for their livelihood are counted among martyrs in us,” she said.
Trend of targeted killings worrisome: Omar
Omar Abdullah said that all are worried over the continued trend of targeted innocent killings here.
“We hope that the government responds in a way that stops it. They are saying everything is normal. But how is it normal that a woman is pumped with bullets in her home and a child is injured. Two days back this kind of incident happened with our off duty junior police officer. This is not stopping. After every such targeted killing, police come out with a statement that those responsible have been killed. But the trend is not stopping. The government should think over how to stop this,” he said.
“We have been saying that the situation is not normal and even in those areas which we had almost cleared of militancy. For example, in Srinagar and its peripheral areas, Ganderbal district, there was no militancy-related incidents. Now one after the other incident is happening. Claims of normalcy and ground situation are totally different,” he said.
