Jammu and Kashmir: Equating killing of terrorists with deaths of security personnel amounts to 'great disservice' to country, says BJP

Jammu: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said those equating terrorist killing with a policeman or a security personnel are doing a great “disservice” to the state and the country. BJP state spokesperson Virender Gupta in a statement said, “A terrorist is a terrorist, whether he is a Pakistani or Kashmiri, and is enemy of the people of the state and the country.” [caption id=“attachment_4039993” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] “Those equating terrorist killing with a policeman or a security personnel who lays down his life to defend the state and public are doing a great disservice to the state and to the country,” he said. The BJP leaders statement comes three days after a senior People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader stoked a controversy by saying there was “no bar” in condoling the killing of local militants in Kashmir. “Whether it is a CRPF man… or a local militant, there is no bar on offering condolences. However, it depends on the security situation, sometimes we can go and sometimes not,” PDP chief spokesperson Rafi Ahmad Mir had said on Sunday. The BJP leader condemned the tendency of some of the Kashmir-based leaders for equating “the killing of militants with innocent persons killed by the militants and security personnel who sacrifice their lives while fighting with the Pakistan-sponsored militants”. In an apparent reference to opposition parties call for resumption of dialogue with Paksitan to resolve Kashmir issue, Gupta asked the National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah to give their “pious” advice to Pakistan to stop exporting terrorism into the Indian territory and its unprovoked heavy firing on the Indian side”. “In the present situation when the Indian government is forced to counter Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and defend its borders from its aggressive activities, the dialogue between the India and Pakistan cannot be viewed,” he said. Gupta, however, said the dialogue can only be fruitful if tension on the borders is minimised and Pakistan stops its nefarious designs. He said Pakistan must understand that its policy of enmity with India is not going to pay it. “Ultimately, it is going to weaken itself and further disintegrate,” he said.