Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh has reiterated Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s statement on Burhan Wani not being the main target of the encounter in which he was killed.
Speaking about the encounter, Singh said that had they known the identity of the militants holed up in the house where the encounter happened, they would have “taken better precaution”.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti had said earlier had they known the identity, the state would have been better prepared for the consequences, like Omar Abdullah was prepared when 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was hanged.
However, he later backtracked on his statement saying he did not call Wani’s encounter an accident.
Although neither Mufti nor Singh have said that the casualty would have been averted had they known the identity, their stance on the issue is percieved to be softer than that of BJP, as pointed out by former Cheif Minister Omar Abdullah.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has repeated the Centre’s anti-Burhan Wani stand in the Parliament and after his two visit to the state on 23 and 24 July.
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(With ANI, PTI inputs)
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