I appeal youth to stay away from encounter sites
Srinagar : While maintaining that police were investigating the Pulwama incident, the additional Director General of Police (Law and order), Muneer Khan Saturday said that it is painful to see loss of any civilian life.
The ADGP also reiterated his personal appeal to the youth to stay away from encounter sites.
“It is painful to all of us to see loss of any civilian life. My appeal to all the young boys is that they should remain at home and not come to encounter sites. They should not pelt stone on security forces,” the ADGP told this correspondent over phone.
The ADGP maintained that there are strict directors to the security forces to avoid civilian killings. “We have talked to Army, CRPF to ensure that no harm is done to the civilians during the encounters with militants,” he maintained.
He said that in an encounter, even security forces and police take cover of a bulletproof vehicle or a house. “Youth storming the encounter sites are committing suicide,” the ADGP said.
Muneer Khan urged the youth to think about the families of those who lost their lives in the firing near the encounter sites. “Think of the mother, father, sister or brother of those youth. People soon forget those who died. Their families suffer the most. We all would be doing our jobs,” he said.
He added that they are taking measures to avoid such things, including preventing people from holding demonstration near encounter cites.
He said that people must understand that the security forces are their own brothers and are fighting militancy to restore peace in the valley.
Khan stressed that security forces want to avoid collateral damage during the anti-militancy operations but people should also avoid creating such situations which may put them in harm’s way.
“We express solidarity with the families of the slain persons. We do not want such incidents,” he said.
“We have directed all the forces to make sure there is no collateral damage in the operations (against militants) but people should also understand that they should not create such a situation which can lead to the loss of innocent lives,” the ADGP added.
