Srinagar, October 22 (KNO) : A day after the unexploded shell resulted in the death seven youth including a teenager at Laroo, Kulgam, plunging entire Kashmir into a deep shock and grief, the locals of Laroo today questioned the forces, especially police as to how they left the gunfight site without sanitising the area. “We don’t want to listen to the theories of any security official. Our only question is that how forces left the place of encounter without cleaning it. Or why forces didn’t stay at the gunfight site till its sanitisation,” said Rafiq Ahmed, a resident of Laroo, whose relative died in the explosion yesterday. Many elders of the area while supporting Rafiq’s claim said that it seemed a deliberate attempt to leave littered explosives at the site of encounter to instil fear among locals. “Forces should be blamed for the killing of all seven young budding flowers,” the Laroo elders, told KNO.
However, J&K DGP Dilbagh Singh said forces want to avoid Kulgam like incidents where seven civilians died in a blast after an encounter with militants had concluded.Talking to reporters at the wreath laying ceremony of a Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) wan who was killed in a militant attack in Tral on Sunday, the Director General of Police (DGP) urged people to stay away from sites of anti-militancy operations. “It was an unfortunate incident and we regret it. When an operation is concluded, there are apprehensions of unexploded explosives at the site and people, especially youth, should avoid going to such places or to touch the debris. We have been asking people to avoid such sites,” he said. Singh stressed that security forces want to avoid collateral damage during the anti-militancy operations but people should also avoid creating such situations which may put them in harm's way.
“We express solidarity with the families of the slain persons. We do not want such incidents," he said. “We have directed all the forces to make sure there is no collateral damage in the operations (against militants) but people should also understand that they should not create such a situation which can lead to the loss of innocent lives,” the DGP added. Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) law and order/security said that they can’t keep forces at the encounter site as that would further lead to law and order situation and result in further collateral damage. “So people need to cooperate with us,” he said.(KNO)