'Militants to blame if forces hit them harder after peace initiative ends'

Omar Abdullah

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today said militants "will only have themselves to blame" if security forces hit them harder than before after the Centre's peace initiative ends.

On May 16, the Union government directed security forces not to launch counter-terror operations during Ramzan but said they reserve the right to retaliate if attacked. "With the militant organisations doing their best to make sure the ceasefire is a failure they will only have themselves to blame if the security forces come back at them even harder when the ceasefire ends," Abdullah tweeted.

He was reacting to the two militant attacks in south Kashmir's Anantnag and Pulwama districts in which two policemen were killed and six other security personnel were injured.

Abdullah said those who killed the policemen in Pulwama "deserve nothing but eternal flames of hell". "And that too on the night of Shab-e-Qadr. The killers of these police personnel deserve nothing but the eternal flames of hell & that is where they are destined to find themselves. Condolences to the families of the deceased," he said on Twitter.

In Anantnag, six Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans sustained minor injuries in a grenade attack by terrorists. Shab-e-Qadr (night of power and blessings) is the 27th night of the holy month of Ramzan when Muslims throng mosques to offer nightlong prayers.

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