J-K CM Mehbooba Mufti ‘pained’ over civilian deaths in Budgam, calls for restraint

Terming these killings as highly unfortunate, the chief minister said the people in Kashmir continue to suffer massive collateral damage due to violence of past three decades.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed deep anguish and grief over the death of youth in Chadoora on Tuesday. “It is highly painful to see the young boys losing their lives,” she said.

Budgam: A group of youth pelting stones on security forces during an anti-militant operation at village Durbugh in Chadoora area of central Kashmir's Budgam district on Tuesday.(PTI)

Terming these killings as highly unfortunate, the chief minister said the people in Kashmir continue to suffer massive collateral damage due to violence of past three decades. She said violence has given people of the state innumerable miseries and it is high time that peaceful means are given a chance for the resolution of the issues.

Read | Kashmir: Separatists call for strike over Budgam civilian deaths, demand inquiry

“We know there are issues that need to be addressed and resolved but no one will be able to do anything at a point when violence becomes a norm. There is a need for restrain from all sides so that conducive atmosphere is created and dissent is expressed in peaceful way,” she said, adding that the solution to problems can be found only through political means and not through violence.

Three men were killed and several others injured on Tuesday when security forces battling militants fired on stone-pelting protesters in Chadoora area of central Kashmir’s Budgam district. Reports from the area suggested that more people were injured at the encounter site in fresh firing in the afternoon. Eyewitnesses said police fired at protesters when they tried to march towards the site, resulting in injuries to over a dozen more people.