SRINAGAR: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah rushed to the Srinagar airport to pay homage to the slain CRPF soldiers before they were flown to their native places for funeral.
Abdullah had earlier kicked off a controversy by his absence from a formal wreath laying ceremony for the five soldiers, killed by militants in a suicide attack on Wednesday.
It evoked strong comments in Delhi-based media, some calling it an insult to the soldiers. Several TV channels showed members of the CRPF pouring out their anger against the Chief minister.
“We die for our country but our lives are of no value. The chief minister should have been here today,” said a soldier.
The BJP and a regional group in Kashmir, the Panthers Party protested outside the state Legislative Assembly demanding an answer from the chief minister for the lapse.
The issue was snowballing into a major controversy before the chief minister turned up at the airport and placed wreaths on the coffins.
Observers say the chief minister had deliberately stayed away from the wreath laying ceremony earlier in order not to provoke further resentment among the people in the Valley.
Tempers have been running high in the valley after the CRPF shot dead a young man at Saidpora in old Srinagar on Wednesday afternoon. People widely see it as an act of retaliation against the militant attack on the CRPF camp.
The city has been placed under an indefinite curfew to prevent violent demonstrations.
Meanwhile the authorities have dismissed reports that the CRPF were unarmed when the militants attacked them on Wednesday.
“We have a standard operating procedure and that was followed. One-third of the jawans of the concerned (CRPF) company were armed, one third were carrying the riot gear and one-third had lathis,” IG CRPF, V S Yadav told the PTI.
