L-G Manoj Sinha slams Farooq Abdullah for justifying terrorist killings

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday slammed former Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah for saying that terrorists would continue killing people “until justice is delivered”.

Speaking at a book launch, Sinha drew a comparison of the civilian killings by terrorists during Abdullah’s regime in 1996-2002 and the three years after abrogation of Article 370, from 2019 to 2022. With a direct reference to Farooq’s period as Chief Minister, but without mentioning his name, Sinha asserted that the most harrowing massacres had taken place in 1996-2002.

“Some people talk of justice. To whom it (justice) has to be given?”, Sinha said while hitting hard on a well-knit ecosystem and support structure on which terrorism has survived even after it was emaciated several times by the security forces in the last over 30 years.

Sinha said that his government would completely dismantle the support structure and ecosystem of terror in the Union Territory.

On Monday, during a tour in Jammu’s Reasi district, Abdullah had spoken about the assassination of a resident Kashmiri Pandit in Shopian and said that such killings would continue “until justice is delivered”.

Sinha said that the faces of his critics would turn red if he reveals all the details and data of bloodshed in some regimes in Jammu and Kashmir. “They will have no place to hide their faces”, Sinha asserted.

“But I feel it necessary to say that the persons who ruled this State for long must know that 26 Kashmiri Pandits were massacred at Wandhama in 1998. Who was ruling then?  Twenty-six civilians were killed at Prankote in Udhampur in 1998. Twenty-five persons were killed in another massacre at Chapnari, Doda. Thirty-five Sikhs were massacred at Chittisinghpura in 2000. Thirty-two persons, including seven Muslim brethren, were killed in a terror strike on Shri Amarnath Ji yatra (at Pahalgam) in 2000. Seventeen persons were killed in Litter. Many died in another terror attack at Qasim Nagar (Jammu)”, Sinha said about Abdullah’s period as Chief Minister.

“The record of some previous rulers is bad enough to blacken their faces”, Sinha said. “Those raising questions that violence has gone up after abrogation of Article 370 should go through the figures. There has been a remarkable decline in the killings. But it’s a fact that some innocent persons have been killed. It’s also a fact that an ecosystem was intentionally created for survival of terrorism and we are trying to eliminate the same,” he said. Sinha said he was nonetheless relieved that no innocent civilian had been killed by a bullet of the Police or security forces in the last 2-3 years.

“If you see the figures, the violence has come down to half from 2016-19 to 2019-22. However, expectations are very high as there is a Prime Minister in whom the entire world and people have faith. Even a small incident shakes the people of the country. They want that no such incident should occur,” Sinha said. Sinha, who took over as LG in August 2020, said that his government was trying its best to eliminate the support structure and a formidable ecosystem that had sustained terror in Jammu and Kashmir since long. He said that intelligence-based counterterror operations had been intensified by the security forces.

“Today, there’s no shutdown at the behest of the neighbour. Schools are functional. No businesses are closed at gun point. We have succeeded to ensure that the common man earns his livelihood with peace,” the LG said. “Curbs have been put on terror funding and support and those who are still indulging in it. We are determined to strike the last nail in their coffin”. He urged every section of the society to identify those who were misleading the people and trying to disrupt peace and development.

“I want to tell those who are trying to disrupt peace that they have made a big mistake. I assure the people they will be severely punished. We will not rest until we strike the last nail in the coffin of terrorism”, Sinha asserted.