Srinagar, June 22 (TNS): Kashmiri leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the Indian army kills more civilians than militants in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and that this did not happen when he ruled the occupied state.
He appears to be trying to project his stint as puppet chief minister (2006-08) as a time when forces were disciplined compared to the present time.
A Superintendent of Police is still in jail, having been indicted for killing civilians who had nothing to do with militancy during Azad’s term as chief minister.
Several innocent and impoverished people, including some migrant labourers, were apparently killed for rewards around that time. That continued till the infamous Machil killings in 2010, when National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was the chief minister.
It is partly in response to that sort of murder of innocent people that anger has ballooned over the years, to the extent that people now routinely emerge from their homes to pelt stones at forces.
