In reaction to Mehbooba Mufti's recent visits to militant families in Pulwama and Shopian, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said, “During her tenure as the chief minister she used militants by sanctioning their deaths to appease the BJP”.
Taking to Twitter Omar wrote: “The architect of “Operation All-out” & the overseer of the operations that killed hundreds of militants since 2015 is now going from one militant home to the next trying to rehabilitate a badly damaged reputation.”
“She used militants by sanctioning their deaths to appease the BJP and now she uses dead militants to try to appease the voter. Just how gullible does she think people are?” Omar added.
Earlier in the day, Mufti said during her tenure as the chief minister, she had directed the police and security forces that the fight against terrorism should not involve harassing the families of militants.
"Fighting the militants is a separate issue ... when I was the CM, at Manigam (Police Training Institute), I gave directions to the police and security forces that while you fight militancy, the families of militants should not be harassed," she said.
This was Mehbooba's second visit to the family of militants. Earlier, she had visited a similar family in Pulwama district.
Several social media users have also dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief's outreach campaign as political opportunism with an eye on coming elections.
A Facebook user posted the video clips of Mehbooba's press conference in 2016 as well as the latest comments on harassment of militant families with the title "a very good example of a chameleon".
(With inputs from agencies)
