Mehbooba should take legal action: Omar on Shopian firing

Opposition National Conference today demanded a probe into the killings in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district, saying these cannot be justified by labelling the deceased as overground workers of militant groups.
"The Shopian incident is yet another stark reminder of the grave-and-rapidly deteriorating situation in the Valley," NC working president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah said.
Omar said the varying accounts from Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and the security forces on last night's incident are unfortunate and further perpetuate the sense of distrust, disenchantment and alienation.
Mehbooba has described the deceased as civilians and hence, being also the state's home minister, it is incumbent upon her to take stringent legal action based on the information she has, Omar said.

"As the head of the Unified Command, her word has to be final, followed by visible and concrete action," he added.
Meanwhile, an NC spokesperson demanded that the circumstances leading to killings in the shootout should be probed and the report made public.
"We are deeply shocked and grieved at the continued and unabated bloodshed in Kashmir. The Shopian killings cannot be justified with an arbitrary, unproven pronouncement of the youth being overground workers," the spokesperson said.
Six people, including two militants, were killed in the shootout in Shopian's Pahnoo area. While the Army has claimed that the slain youths were militants and their associates, the police, on the other hand, did not make any such claims and said they are still investigating the incident.