National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, on Saturday, called for a probe into the rise in encounters in Jammu and Kashmir to determine if any agency is working to destabilise the Omar Abdullah-led government in the Union territory.
He questioned the increase in encounters since the government was formed in Jammu and Kashmir. "I question why we didn’t see a surge in gunfights before the government was formed,” Abdullah told reporters at his residence in Srinagar. “There should be an independent probe to find out who is behind this.”
Referring to militants engaged in an encounter in Khanyar, Srinagar, he suggested they should be arrested rather than killed. “They should be detained to investigate whether any agency has been tasked with destabilising Omar Abdullah's government,” he said.
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He said tourism is flourishing and people are doing their usual business. “Terrorism was at its lowest ebb, which is why I am calling for a probe,” he said.
Since the government took office on October 16, there has been a noticeable rise in attacks by militants on security forces and non-local workers in Kashmir.
On Friday evening, two non-local labourers working on the Jal Jeevan Project in the Mazhama area of central Kashmir’s Budgam district were shot and injured by suspected militants.
The labourers were working near the Mazhama graveyard along Nallah Sukhnag when they were attacked. One sustained a bullet wound on his arm, while the other on his leg; both are in stable condition and out of danger.
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This incident marks the third major attack in recent weeks. On October 23 in Gagangeer of Ganderbal, a local doctor and six labourers were killed in a targeted assault.
This was followed by an attack on an army vehicle in Gulmarg in Baramulla, in which two army porters and three soldiers lost their lives.
