JD (U) 'surprised' at J-K deputy CM's remark on Burhan Wani

The Janata Dal (United) on Sunday took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh's remark that killing of Burhan Wani was an 'accident' and said that the varying reactions from the saffron party's central unit and state unit on the slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander was 'surprising'.

"I am surprised at Nirmal Singh's remark. It is clear that Burhan Wani was a terrorist and this has been accepted by the BJP headquarters in Delhi. Now, Delhi BJP and J-K BJP are speaking different things, it is very surprising," senior JD (U) leader K.C. Tyagi told ANI.

After Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti stated that security forces were unaware about Burhan Wani's identity during the encounter in which he was neutralised, Nirmal Singh on Saturday said the entire incident was an "accident".

When asked about Wani's killing and the recent remarks made by certain leaders about it, Singh said the security forces had no prior information and the identification of bodies was done after the terrorists were killed.

"There was a routine anti-terrorism operation. Four Pakistani terrorists were killed, at that time there was no information. The identification was done after that," he told media persons in Katra.

"If there was any prior information then we could have taken some precautions. We did know about the terrorists....This was an accident. We did not know beforehand. Terrorists have to be dealt with guns," he added.

However, he later retracted from his remark and said he never called it an accident.

"I never said that. I was asked a question by a correspondent if the state government had failed after Burhan Wani's killing, and I was only explaining that because it was a routine anti-terrorist operation, had security forces known, they would have taken better precautions" Singh told ANI here.