Compulsion of killing terrorists shouldn't be cause for celebration: Omar Abdullah

The compulsion of killing terrorists should not be treated as a cause of celebration, asserted National Conference (NC) vice-president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah while reacting sharply to a statement made by Northern Command chief Lt Gen Ranbir Singh earlier in the day.

Lt Gen Singh, while addressing a press conference, presented the statistics of army operations from the past year and said, "2018 has been a great year for the security forces, more than 250 terrorists were killed, 54 were caught alive, and four surrendered to the forces."

Reacting to the statement, Omar expressed his dissent and tweeted, "I beg to differ, a great year would be one in which no young man would join militancy, no terrorists would be killed and no security personnel would lose their lives in encounters. The compulsion of killing militants/terrorists shouldn't be treated as a cause for celebration."

During his media briefing, Lt Gen Singh had also asserted that the Indian Army is always prepared to give a befitting reply to Pakistan.

Responding to a question about recent assaults, he said: "In the last few days, five Pakistanis were killed, it shows that Indian Army is always ready to give them a befitting reply."

Earlier in the day, Pakistan troops had again violated ceasefire in Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir. Indian security forces fiercely retaliated Pakistan army's ceasefire.

On Wednesday, India summoned Pakistan High Commission official and lodged a strong protest at the unprovoked ceasefire violations in Naushera and Sunderbani sectors in Jammu and Kashmir.