“Police and security forces will have to maintain their alert level even more”: Omar Abdullah on Ganderbal attacks

Rajouri (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], October 21 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday expressed the need for the security forces and police to remain alert after the recent terrorist attack in Ganderbal which resulted in the deaths of seven people, including a doctor and migrant labourers.

“Now the administration, especially the police and security forces, will have to maintain their alert level even more and ensure that such attacks do not take place,” said the J-K CM.

He questioned the use of violence against innocent people and asked what will be achieved by this adding that the reason behind this attack is that they want to show that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is not completely stable.

“”No matter how much we condemn this attack, no matter how much we speak against it, it is not enough. How is this use of violence against innocent people justified and what will be achieved by this. We have been seeing this for the last 35 years but nothing has changed in Jammu and Kashmir. Whatever Jammu and Kashmir will get, it will be given in a peaceful environment. And the reason behind this attack is that they want to show that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is not completely stable,” said Omar Abdullah.

He was visiting Manjkote in the Rajouri district of Kashmir to pay condolences to Muzaffar Iqbal Khan over the demise of the latter’s mother. Khan recently won the assembly elections from Thannamandi constituency as an independent candidate.

Speaking on the violence against migrant workers at Gagangir in the Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah emphasised the need to speak against such incidents, implying that the violence is unjustified and nothing can be achieved by subjecting innocent people to the same. CM Abdullah informed that the reason behind this attack is that they want to show that there is no peace in Kashmir while urging the administration to remain alert to curb such attacks and maintain public security.

A doctor and six construction workers were killed when terrorists attacked a tunnel construction site on the Srinagar-Leh national highway in the Ganderbal district late Sunday evening. The terrorists struck as the labourers and other staff returned to their camp in Gund, Ganderbal. The incident raised serious concern as this was a targeted killing by the terrorists.

Earlier, CM Abdullah sparked a row after he failed to label the violence against migrants as a “terrorist attack” and called it a “militant attack” instead. J-K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, before whom the newly minted CM Abdullah took his oath, strongly criticised the attack on innocent citizens, saying that no one would support bloodshed.

Meanwhile, Abdullah recently resigned from the Budgam assembly constituency and retained the Ganderbal seat that remains the bastion of the National Conference (NC).

This comes after he won two assembly seats in the recently held assembly elections.