"Whether it is a CRPF man... or a local militant, there is no bar on offering condolences. However, it depends on the security situation, sometimes we can go and sometimes not," PDP chief spokesperson, Rafi Ahmad Mir, told reporters here.
Even before coming to power, the party had a policy of visiting the families of local militants who were killed in counter-insurgency operations by security forces, he said.
"The PDP had a policy. Whenever a militant was killed, I used to visit (the family) to offer condolences, and at that time the PDP president would also visit," Mir said, adding that "whoever becomes a martyr is before God and I think we should not talk about that".
"It was a heart-wrenching incident. We were hopeful and thinking that the situation was getting better, but got this shock. It is very unfortunate. They were our own sons," he said.
"Whoever gets killed, be it (from) the police force or militants, it is very unfortunate and we condemn it. We hope this does not recur," Mir said.
The PDP had to shelve its election agenda to form government with the BJP, "otherwise, the state would have incurred losses as it needed Delhi's assistance in running the government in the state", he said.
"We needed the assistance of Delhi here. We took a decision, a very harsh decision, a bitter decision (of forming government in an alliance with BJP)," Mir said.
There was resentment in our voters also. There is no doubt about it, the chief spokesperson said.
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