Kashmir-centric politicians and separatists cornered the Modi government at the Centre and Governor Satya Pal Malik on the issue of death of seven people during yesterday’s encounter in Pulwama.

The politicians are whipping the Governor and the security forces over the killings.

Former Chief Minister and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti had on Friday slammed the Governor’s administration over the incident.

“Is that all we expected from the Governors rule?” she asked adding that providing a secure atmosphere to people was the sole responsibility of this administration in which it has miserably failed.

She also asked the administration to shun the macho approach to deal with people and adopt a humane approach in dealing with day to day law and order issues.

“No probe or enquiry is enough to bring the dead innocent civilians back to life and it would only further alienate the people,” Mufti added.

It is worth mentioning that Mufti, when she was the Chief Minister in a government supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), used to admonish the youth for going to the encounter spots and getting injured.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone, whom the BJP was supporting for chief ministerial slot, also criticised the Governor’s administration over the civilian casualties.

Meanwhile, separatists called a shutdown on Sunday to protest the civilian killings. The shutdown was called by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) separatist conglomerate.

Read More: Strike called by separatists, restrictions imposed in Srinagar, Pulwama

Authorities imposed restrictions in Pulwama and parts of Srinagar districts of Jammu and Kashmir as a precautionary measure in view of the strike called by separatists.

At the same time, some social media users condemning the incident were mum on the repeated requests by security forces to civilians not to disrupt anti-terrorist operations by indulging in stone pelting.

Some top cops who tried to make the Kashmiri youth understand the potential danger of going near the encounter spots were rebuked on the social media.

A former DGP of J&K Police, Rajendra Kumar, received brickbats particularly from the valley on his social media account when he said, “All civilian killings are sad and tragic but could have been avoided had parents and civil society taken care to prevent protestors from clashing with the security forces at the places of encounter.”

Former DGP SP Vaid also said that “continued instigation by terrorists and their masters across, for the civilians to reach the encounter site and disrupt the operation by stone pelting leads to loss of precious lives”.

Anguished at the loss of lives of civilians in an encounter in Pulwama. Continued instigation by terrorists and their masters across, for the civilians to reach the encounter site and disrupt the operation by stone pelting leads to loss of precious lives. Terrible.

— Shesh Paul Vaid (@spvaid) December 15, 2018

Youth and miscreants rushing to the encounter spots to pelt stones so as to provide an opportunity to the trapped terrorists to escape has become a routine affair in the valley. In another recent incident, seven persons had died when an unexploded shell went off at an encounter spot where they rushed to retrieve bodies of terrorists.

Reports state that patrons of terror outfits sitting in Pakistan are instigating the Kashmiri youth through various social media accounts to rush to encounter spots. More than 350 such Whatsapp and other social media groups were identified by the security agencies some time ago.

Security forces say that they never intend to fire at civilians but such action becomes unavoidable when violent mobs come dangerously close during anti-terror operations.