Srinagar: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday asked Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure that innocent people are not harassed as the government goes after the terror ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Kashmiris have shown that they are not with bloodshed and they share the grief of the nation. My appeal to the home minister is to take action, not once but a thousand times, against those who carried out the act of terror.
“However, spare the Kashmiri who gave his blood and carried a tourist on his shoulders to a hospital after the (Pahalgam) attack,” Mufti said while interacting with locals and tourists at Pahalgam resort in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
The former chief minister said, according to the locals, the persons who were earning their livelihood at Baisaran before the April 22 attack were being detained for questioning.
“They are called to the police station in the morning, kept there without food throughout the day and then sent home in the evening. What is this?
“The home minister should realise that today Kashmiris are with you. Today they want to heal themselves and heal your wounds too. Stop inflicting fresh wounds on them,” she added.
She said the Kashmiris were cooperating with the investigators but raised questions about the manner of investigations after the deaths of two suspected overground workers (OGWs) “in custody”.
“People are cooperating with you in investigations. You are calling them to police stations and they are reporting there. If you have to ask something, please do that, but you are sending their dead bodies back. Will you brand anyone an OGW and kill them?” she asked.
Mufti mentioned the death of Altaf Lali in Bandipora and Imtiyaz Ahmad Magray in Kulgam.
“In Bandipora, Altaf Lali and his sister were taken by security forces. The sister was let go and later Altaf’s body arrived. In Kulgam, Imtiyaz Magray was summoned by the Army and he went with them. Yesterday, his body was recovered. Till you conduct an inquiry into these incidents, these families should at least be provided compensation as they are poor,” she added.
The PDP president also criticised the decision of the authorities to keep some of the tourist places shut in the aftermath of the attack.
“If a tourist is coming here today, everything is closed — Pahalgam is closed, Chandanwari is closed, Aru is closed. The tourists are showing a lot of courage by coming here, they want to send out a message that they are not scared but you are closing down the places. You should tell the tourists directly that we do not want anyone to come to Kashmir,” she said.
“To the tourists, I say Kashmiris have come out against the acts of terror. They have come into the national mainstream, you should support them. If they are taking one step, you should take two,” she added.
