Srinagar: J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah has criticised the police for allegedly facilitating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sunil Sharma’s visit to Kathua where three civilians were killed in a suspected militant attack last week while denying deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary permission to meet the bereaved families.

Speaking in the legislative assembly on Monday (March 10), Abdullah said that Choudhary had planned to meet the bereaved families in Kathua’s Malhar village on Sunday and he had conveyed his programme to the police administration on Saturday night.

“However, on Sunday morning, extra security forces were deployed outside his house in Jammu and the deputy chief minister was told that it won’t be appropriate for him to visit the area as the situation was not conducive,” Abdullah said.

Without naming the saffron party, the chief minister said that the issue of Kathua killings was being politicised. “If the situation was so bad that the deputy chief minister couldn’t go there, how was the Leader of Opposition (Sunil Sharma) allowed to visit the area?” he said.

Also read: Union Home Secretary Arrives in Jammu After Deaths of Minor, Two Men; Kathua Sees Shutdown

Sharma visited Malhar area of Billawar tehsil in Kathua district on Sunday and expressed condolences to the families of Darshan Singh, Yogesh Singh and a minor boy who were reportedly abducted and killed by suspected militants on March 5. Their bodies were recovered from a river on March 8.

The chief minister’s remarks, however, didn’t go down well with the opposition members of the House who tried to disrupt his speech. However, Abdullah urged them to calm down.

“I am not asking this question of you. I am asking this to those who gave you permission and prevented the deputy chief minister from visiting the area. In this new system where we can’t talk about police, perhaps you have become the spokesperson of police in the House,” he said, pointing to Sharma, “Police will have to answer this.” 

The chief minister said that he spoke with Choudhary over phone on Sunday and advised him not to go if there were fears that his visit could deteriorate the situation. “I told him to speak with the Inspector General of Police (Jammu) who was busy with the Union home secretary’s visit. He then spoke with SSP Kathua who told him that the situation was very fragile and advised him to wait for two to three days,” Abdullah said.

Union home secretary Govind Mohan reviewed the security situation in Jammu on Sunday in the aftermath of the tragic deaths of the minor boy and his two uncles. Union minister Jitendra Singh has blamed militants for the killings. 

Five civilians have lost their lives over the past month in suspected militant attacks in Kathua where militancy has staged a comeback after many years and a group of foreign militants are believed to have taken refuge in the higher reaches of the border district.

Also read: J&K: Bodies of Three Missing Civilians Found in Kathua River

The chief minister said that the deputy chief minister wanted to extend condolences to the bereaved families. “How it has happened and why it has happened is being probed. It won’t be proper to speak on the investigation in the House. The honourable member (deputy chief minister) tried to visit the area. He had not gone there to play politics,” he said.

On Saturday evening, hours after the bodies of the three civilians of Malhar were recovered from the upper reaches of Billawar, unidentified youngsters heckled and manhandled Dr Rameshwar Singh, independent member of legislative assembly from Bani constituency who had gone to meet the bereaved families at a hospital. 

Speaking with reporters, the MLA said that he was targeted because he spoke about the demise of Makhan Din, a tribal man from Bhatodi village of Kathua who committed suicide on February 5 after allegedly facing torture in police custody.

“Is speaking about targeting of Muslims a crime,” said Singh, who had to leave the area in a huff on Saturday evening as the situation appeared to go out of control.

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