Reacting to the killing of Burhan Wani and the violence that ensued after that, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister said on Saturday that better precautionary measures could have been taken if the Hizbul terrorist’s encounter site was known in advance, .
Singh said that the security forces had informed the government about the encounter but they had no information who the hiding terrorists were.
“We were told by the security forces but they did not know who was there. Suppose they would have known it precautions would have been taken so that there was no situation where people would have gathered to protest,” he said.
“I have no information that at any point in time anybody had claimed they knew who the hiding terrorist were. I am talking about the information the government was having and that is our information. They (security forces) did not know who was hiding there, it was a routine anti-terror operation and ultimately three terrorists were killed in it,” Singh added, as per PTI.
Notably, J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had echoed similar sentiment’s on Thursday.
“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 had said on the July 8 encounter.
However, Singh maintained that a terrorist like Wani did not deserve a second chance.
“A terrorist is a terrorist. There is no good terrorist or bad terrorist. A terrorist has to be dealt like the way as has been done by the security forces,” he told reporters here.
When asked to comment on Mehbooba’s statement, Singh said that a terrorist does not deserve a second chance.
“No second chance is given to any terrorist. Any person who holds a gun and is killing the people has to be dealt like this,” he added.
“I don’t see that such a statement has been issued (by the CM) I think she was also referring to the situation that emerged afterwards, that suppose the security personal would have known this they would have taken precautionary measures to averted violence which took place after the encounter,” he said.
Clashes in Kashmir, curfew lifted in many areas
Meanwhile, fresh clashes broke out between protesters and security forces on Saturday in several parts of Kashmir as authorities lifted curfew in the Valley, except parts of Srinagar city and towns of Anatnag and Pampore.
Nearly a dozen persons were injured in the violence, a police official said.
A group of protesters started a march from Shopian town at around 5 pm and as they reached near a police camp, some miscreants started pelting stones on the police installation, the official said.
Three persons including a woman were injured in retaliatory action by the police. All the injured were referred to hospitals here for treatment.
There were reports of clashes at several places in the Valley during the day but the situation remained by and large under control, the official said.
Nine persons were injured in the clashes, the official said, adding the condition of all the injured was stated to be stable.
48 people have died while more than 5,600 have been injured in the clashes between protesters and security forces since July 8 when Wani was killed in an encounter.
(With PTI inputs)
