Mehbooba visits kin of another militant killed in encounter

PDP president and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday visited the family of slain militant Muhammad Idrees Sultan who was killed at Safanagri in Shopian during an encounter with security forces on November 6.

Idress alias Chota Abrar and his associate Amir Hussain Rather alias Abu Sobaan, a resident of Awneera, were killed in the encounter that broke out after the forces laid siege of the area. 

Sultan was an army deserter and had joined militancy in April 2018.

According to sources, Mehbooba met the family of Sultan and expressed condolences. 

Mehbooba, who was accompanied by a few party workers, said police should stop ‘harassing’ the families of the militants.

“I know our police is a disciplined force and they don't want to harass the families of militants. But from somewhere they get such directions," she said. ''Let them (police) fight against the militants, but the families should not be involved in it.''

This is the second time Mehbooba visited the family of militants this week. On Sunday, she visited the family of a militant at Patipora of Pulwama.

Reacting to her visit to Sultan's family, National Conference vice president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: ''The architect of 'Operation All-out' & the overseer of the operations that killed hundreds of militants since 2015 is now going from one militant home to the next trying to rehabilitate a badly damaged reputation.” 

In another tweet, he said: “She used militants by sanctioning their deaths to appease the BJP and now she uses dead militants to try to appease the voter. Just how gullible does she think people are?”