In a blatant display of glorification of terrorists, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah today made eulogising remarks for terrorists Zakir Musa and Burhani Wani while addressing a political rally in Kashmir. Abdullah called Tral “the land of Musa and Burhan Wani.”
#Breaking 1st on TIMES NOW | Shocking ‘terror appeasement’ by former J&K CM @OmarAbdullah, Omar Abdullah openly eulogizes terrorists at a rally, calls Tral a ‘land of Musa and Burhan Wani.’ | @MirFareed2 with details. pic.twitter.com/ik4Ic43lSL
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) July 26, 2019
Speaking at a rally in Srinagar, Omar Abdullah said, “We have to fight these intrigues. We cannot fight these intrigues while being weak. We need to be powerful. They taunt Farooq Abdullah that he won elections only by securing 10 per cent votes. I would like to tell them that it is a testimony of their failure that only 10 per cent of the population voted.”
Abdullah attempted to spook the people of Tral by stating that they cannot boycott polls. He stated, there is a danger in boycotting polls. If voters boycott, what happened in Lok Sabha elections may be repeated in assembly elections too and there will be a BJP MLA from Tral, the land of Musa and Burhan Wani.
Omar Abdullah: There’s danger in boycotting polls.If there’s a boycott,then like what happened in parliamentary polls will happen in assembly polls too,there’ll be a BJP MLA from Tral from where Burhan Wani&Zakir Musa belonged.They(BJP)have their eyes on some constituencies here. pic.twitter.com/loK7FYV62M
— ANI (@ANI) July 26, 2019
It is notable here that last year, both NC and PDP had boycotted the local body elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
Wani, a terrorist belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen, was eliminated by Armed Forces in an encounter in 2016 in Kokernag area of Anantnag district. Zakir Musa, the so-called chief of Ansar Ghazwat ul-Hind was neutralised by the Armed Forces in an encounter on May 23, 2019. Musa was Al Qaeda’s Kashmir head. He had declared that he will rid India of Hindus, calling for genocide.
Tral has been a hotbed of anti-India activities and Islamist terrorism. The security forces routinely indulge in encounters to eliminate local terrorists and Pakistani terrorists who infiltrate from across the border and manage to evade patrol teams to take refuge in the South Kashmir town. Amidst such a tumultuous situation, eulogising statements from Abdullah might act as fodder to lure more locals to join the militancy ranks.
Earlier, another NC leader Ali Mohammad Sagar had referred to Musa and Wani as ‘martyrs’. He had also claimed that the people of Tral should not have voted for the BJP as Musa and Wani were martyred there.
Both PDP and NC, the principal regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir are often found pandering to the separatist sentiments and sympathising with the terrorists when they are out of power and start toeing the government line once they form a government in the state.
On one occasion, continuing his anti-India rampage, Abdullah had demanded a separate post of Prime Minister for Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, Mehbooba Mufti attempted to rationalise the Pulwama terror attack, blaming the government’s muscular approach as a reason for the attack in which over 40 CRPF personnel had lost their lives