Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Saturday that Kashmir’s “disaffected” have got a “new icon” in Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
Close to 20,000 people assembled in Tral, the deceased militant’s hometown in Pulwama district to attend the funeral prayers.
Wani, the 21-year-old poster boy of militancy, was shot dead yesterday by security forces along with two of his accomplices in Kokernag area, 83 kms from Srinagar.
Alas Burhan isn’t the 1st to pick up the gun and won’t be the last. Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) has always maintained that a political problem needs a political solution. For all Burhan’s social media activity I don’t recall any militancy incident attributed to him while I was in office. Not sure after that. Mobile internet services [in Kashmir] suspended. Restrictions/curfew announced for a lot of places. Separatist leaders detained.Omar Abdullah, Ex-CM of Jammu and Kashmir, in several tweets
On Friday, Omar had said while Wani was not the first one to take up arms, he would not be the last as Kashmir’s issue is a political problem, requiring a political solution.
Saving grace for the government is that in most places the people assembling seem to have no intention to disturb peace. Otherwise if crowd this size were to turn violent and pelt stones it would be unmanageable. Hope cooler heads prevail.
Omar said the saving grace for the government was that the people assembled in Tral were not violent and had no intentions of disturbing the peace.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)