Army apologises to Omar for shootout statement

JAMMU - The Indian Army has apologised to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for a statement that a shootout had occurred in Srinagar earlier this week because of the state government’s insistence on thinning out troops in the city, an officer said.

The army’s Northern Command chief, Lt. Gen. B.S. Jaswal, “apologised to the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on this issue on Wednesday to resolve the issue”, command PRO Lt. Col. Pradeep Kochhar said in a statement Thursday.

“The chief minister and the army commander share extremely cordial relations and have the best of functional rapport. The entire episode is deeply regretted.

“The state government and the army are maintaining best of relations and would continue to do so,” the statement added.

Jaswal had also clarified to Abdullah that the army statement had been unauthorisedly issued by the command public relations officer on Tuesday, a day after the Srinagar shootout in which three men said to be terrorists were killed, an official source said.

Jaswal also told Abdullah that the Northern Command had nothing to do with the statement.

The statement Tuesday had said Abdullah had “given in” to the clamour of demilitarisation and dismantling of bunkers in Srinagar, which had “delighted” the separatists.

This had irked Abdullah, who, while speaking at a public meeting in south Kashmir’s Anantnag town, had said he would persist with his demand for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and dismantling of bunkers in the places where “militancy has declined and peace has returned”.

“Terrorists have once again shown their presence for the second time in a month as if to remind the world that militancy was still alive and kicking in Kashmir,” the army statement had added.

“The clamour to remove bunkers and thin out the police/paramilitary presence from the urban areas had compelled the Omar Abdullah government to give in.”