No innocent must die in anti-militancy operation: Azad

The morale of security forces is important but it is equally vital to ensure that no innocent is killed during anti-militancy operations, Congress leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Wednesday.

Speaking to the media after state Congress President G.A. Mir filed his nomination papers for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, Azad said: "The morale of the common people is as important as that of our security forces.

"While we must ensure the morale of our security forces, we must at the same time ensure that no innocent is killed during anti-militancy operations."

Azad said nobody should target innocents to collect awards during anti-militancy operations.

"One Superintendent of Police, one Deputy Superintendent and 11 other personnel of state police are in jail for the last 11 years for killing innocent people for awards and rewards," Azad said, referring to the policemen arrested for staging fake encounters when Azad was the Chief Minister.

Asked why the Congress election manifesto referred to Jammu and Kashmir in such detail, Azad said: "I have been associated with manifesto formulation for the Congress for the last 40 years.

"Ealier, just three senior Congress leaders would be assigned the job of drafting the manifesto.

"This time, Rahul Gandhi assigned the manifesto drafting duty to a team of senior leaders headed by P. Chidambaram.

"The job was assigned to the team eight months ago and they were told to undertake extensive visits to different parts of the country before coming up with their draft.

"This is the reason you find such elaborate details in our manifesto this time about various issues."

--IANS

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