Conflict
Cops killing fallout: Talks with Pakistan in such an environment would be meaningless, says India
The meeting between External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in New York has been called off after the ‘brutal’ killing of three policemen in Kashmir’s Shopian district.
India has also cited that Pakistan has released stamps ‘glorifying’ slain Hizb commander Burhan Wani. Reacting strongly, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said talks with Pakistan in such an environment would be “meaningless”.
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“The latest brutal killings of our security personnel by Pakistan-based entities and the recent release of a series of 20 postage stamps by Pakistan confirm that Pakistan will not mend its ways,” Kumar said.
He noted that “two deeply disturbing developments have taken place” since yesterday’s announcement of a meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in New York later this month.
“In view of the changed situation, there will be no meeting between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan in New York,” he said.
PDP President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday reacting to the killings of policemen said that Government of India’s ‘muscular policy’ is clearly not working in the valley.
She also added that dialogue now seems to be a ‘distant dream’.
After militants killed three cops, who were abducted from Shopian, at least six have announced their resignations from three other districts of the valley.
While taking to social media, policemen from Shopian, Kulgam and Pulwama quit their jobs. However, India’s Home Ministry in a statement said that no cop in the state has resigned.
Earlier, Three policemen – Firdous Ahmad Kuchay, Kulwant Singh and Nisar Ahmad – were abducted and killed by he militants in south Kashmir’s Shopian on Friday morning.
Last month 11 family members of police officials have been kidnapped by militants in different areas across Kashmir after the father of Hizb commander Riayz Naikoo was detained by the police.
Hizbul Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo had reportedly tweeted about the kidnappings warning the armed forces about a ‘tit for tat’ after Naikoo’s father was arrested by the armed forces in a night raid on August 30.
The Hizb Commander Riyaz Naikoo, according to police, is the brain behind militant recruitment. “Naikoo has motivational power and he has managed to persuade youth and brought them into the fold of the Hizb outfit,” police had said recently.
Recently, Naikoo had said that Amarnath Yatris were ‘guests and that the reports suggesting that militants were planning to attack them were baseless’. “Amarnath Yatra is not our target. They come here to perform their religious rituals. They (yatris) are our guests,” said Riyaz Naikoo, Field Operational Commander, in an audio clip released on social media.
Earlier on August 30, families of two militants in the Shopian district of Kashmir alleged that the armed forces set their homes on fire.
According to report in the English daily Greater Kashmir, the family members of a militant Shahjahan alleged that the armed forces raided their house in Amshipora village of the district.
