SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah Thursday questioned Army officials boasting about the number of militants killed in the state last year, saying it would have been a “great year” if no youth had joined militancy.
“I beg to differ, a great year would be one in which no young man would join militancy,” Omar said in a tweet, adding no militants would be killed and no security personnel would lose their lives in encounters.
He said the compulsion of killing militants shouldn’t be treated as a cause for celebration.
He was responding to the remarks of Northern Army Command chief Lt Gen Ranbir Singh in which he reportedly said that 2018 has been a great year for the security forces as more than 250 militants were killed, 54 were caught alive and four surrendered to the forces.