Omar Abdullah hits out at PDP-BJP govt over Manohar Parrikar's remark on militants

Srinagar: Working president of the Opposition National Conference, Omar Abdullah on Friday hit out at PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir over the remarks of defence minister Manohar Parrikar on the strategy of eliminating militants in the state.

"Looks like (chief minister) Mufti (Mohammad) Syed (sic) is reviving & empowering the Ikhwanis (counter-insurgents). That's the only way to carry out 'terrorists killing terrorists' policy of MOD," Omar tweeted. He was referring to the statement made by Parrikar in an interview with an English daily.

Looks like Mufti Syed is reviving & empowering the Ikhwanis. That's the only way to carry out "terrorists killing terrorists" policy of MOD.

— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) May 22, 2015

"Our proactive attitude is to identify terrorists and then effectively neutralise them. Every case is handled firmly with clear-cut intelligence for targeted kills. "We ensure minimal collateral damage. You have to neutralise terrorist through terrorist only. Why my soldier has to do it all the time?" Parrikar had said.

Read: We must neutralise terrorists through terrorists, says Manohar Parrikar

Several groups of counter-insurgents, known as Ikhwanis in Kashmir, actively helped the security forces to tackle militancy in the valley during second half of 1990s and early 2000s.

However, the groups were disbanded and many of the cadres were absorbed in regular forces like army and police when PDP-Congress coalition government came to power in 2002.