Srinagar, Nov 15 (HS): Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Tariq Hameed Karra condemned the killing of two Special Police Officers (SPOs) in Kishtwar and demanded that the incident be investigated from all angles.

Speaking to reporters in Srinagar, he said the incident was condemnable no matter who was behind it, but it raised several questions. He said he had spoken to the party’s Kishtwar district president and gathered details from there.

Karra said the final picture would depend on the investigation, but according to the information available with him, the two SPOs had gone out hunting and were carrying guns.

He claimed there were two pickets in Warwan and the adjoining area, which the two crossed comfortably on their way in, but on their return the army, mistaking them for terrorists because they were in civilian clothes, fired on them. “This is one story,” he said.

The other story, he said, is the one being propagated by the BJP, that they were killed by terrorists. He said the party had demanded, through its district president, that if there is a terror angle it should be properly investigated, but that other angles should also be examined.

The Congress president accused the BJP of trying to communalise the incident. He termed as highly condemnable a statement by local MLA Shagun Parihar, in which she allegedly said announcements were made from mosques in Warwan to kill Hindus.

He said the party’s (Congress) district president in Kishtwar is a Hindu, and that he had asked him to challenge the MLA to resign if the claim was not proven true. According to him, BJP leaders there want to give the situation a communal turn, and their aim seems to be something else.

Karra said the incident negates the Centre’s repeated claim that the situation in J&K is normal. He said the government speaks of normalcy to show the international community, but says the situation is bad when it comes to statehood or terrorism. He demanded that the government release a white paper stating whether the situation is good or not.

Responding to a question that referred to a BJP leader’s claim that something happened in J&K every time Farooq Abdullah named Pakistan, Karra said Pakistan has been mentioned for one reason or another since 1947, and that the BJP itself repeatedly takes its name. He said major attacks such as Pulwama, Awantipora and Pahalgam took place during the BJP’s rule.

Pertinent to mention that the two SPOs in Kishtwar had gone missing at night and their bodies were recovered the next morning. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah have condemned the incident. According to officials, a massive anti-terror operation has been launched in the district following the incident.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Zahoor Hussain Bhat