Srinagar: Leaders of various political parties on Wednesday visited the residence of ex-serviceman Manzoor Ahmad Wagay, who was shot dead by terrorists in Kulgam district on Monday.
Leader of Opposition in J&K Assembly and BJP leader Sunil Sharma, state president Sat Paul Sharma and former MLA Ravindra Raina were among those who visited the Wagay family.
PDP leader Iltija Mufti and National Conference spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar also visited the bereaved family to offer their condolences.
The BJP leaders said Pakistan had created a module which was targeting innocent and unarmed civilians after the neighbouring country was frustrated by the peace and development in Jammu and Kashmir.
“This is condemnable and the perpetrators will be brought to book,” Raina said.
Sunil Sharma also blamed the National Conference for the large number of deaths in Kashmir, especially those which took place in 2010 during the first tenure of Omar Abdullah as chief minister.
“I believe the National Conference is responsible for whatever happened in Jammu and Kashmir since 1931 till date. The party is fundamentally responsible for the bloodshed that has taken place in Kashmir,” Leader of Opposition Sharma said.
Blaming Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for 110 killings in 2010, Sharma, as per news agency KNO said, “All civilian killings that have taken place here — especially the killing of 9th-class student Tufail Mattoo and thousands of other youths — were due to the NC’s policies. The party is solely responsible for these tragedies.”
“I want to tell the NC spokesperson that their Chief Minister was responsible for the killing of 110 people in just 10 days in 2010,” Sharma said.
Referring to the post-abrogation scenario, Sharma said, “Since the abrogation of Article 370, terrorism and separatism have suffered a major blow. This is evident to everyone. However, Pakistan-backed elements present are unable to accept this change. They are targeting innocents to create fear.”
He was responding to an earlier statement of NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar in which he had said the claims of the Centre about improvement in the situation in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 have been proven wrong.
Reacting to Sharma’s statement, Dar said the BJP leaders should be ashamed as they were doing politics even over the death of a former soldier.
“I did not name or blame anyone but do they forget which party does the Lieutenant Governor belong to? It is the LG who is handling law and order,” he added.
Iltija Mufti, after meeting the families, said the Wagay family has lost its only breadwinner.
“The family has to be compensated and a probe should be ordered as the family members are apprehensive that they might be targeted,” Mufti said.
On the detention of a large number of youths following the killing, Mufti said the authorities were punishing everyone for the crime of one person.
“Are we all militants? There is an atmosphere of fear. People told me that they cannot sleep at night out of fear. Kashmir has been turned into an open prison,” she added.
