Doda Encounter: ‘Fixer DGP of J-K treats locals as Pakistanis, should have been sacked by now,’ says Mehbooba Mufti

Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti on July 16 sought hit out at the Union Territory's Director General of Police (DGP) RR Swain calling him a ‘communal fixer’ who should have been sacked by now over back-to-back terror attacks. 

The J&K Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president sought accountability for the loss of ‘50 soldiers' in terror attacks in the past 32 months’ across J&K. 

Condemning the death of four army personnel, including an officer, in a gunfight with terrorists in Doda district of the UT on July 14, Mehbooba said young officers were becoming ‘cannon fodder’ for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre.

"Unfortunately, there is no accountability. Heads should have rolled by now. The DGP (RR Swain) should have been sacked by now," Mehbooba told reporters in Srinagar. "We lost our brave soldiers and officers in this attack. The incumbent DG (P) is busy fixing things politically. He is more into how to crush PDP and how to harass the people," Mehbooba alleged adding that almost ‘50 soldiers lost their lives in past 32 months.’ 

Mehbooba's charges at the J-K police chief come a day after he accused mainstream political parties of facilitating Pakistan’s infiltration into the UT's civil society of Jammu and Kashmir.

Mehbooba also accused the DGP of treating the local people as Pakistanis. "Passport verification has been weaponised, UAPA is being invoked against more and more people, the business community is being harassed, our clerics are also not spared. They are being blackmailed. Bar Association people are being put behind bars. What is happening?" she asked.

“We do not need a fixer here, we need a DGP. We have had many DGPs from outside here earlier as well. They have done good work,” she said. "No one worked on communal lines like this before. Employees are being sacked on charges of corruption. Most of them are from the majority community. The incumbent DGP has alienated the local people. He is treating them as Pakistanis," she alleged.

Mehbooba said these terror incidents are taking place in areas which have never seen any militancy. "Young men are dying here and there is no accountability. But they are trying to hide behind the mainstream and regional parties. They want to hide their failures," she said. For the last six years Jammu and Kashmir has been under direct BJP rule and yet incidents like Doda are taking place, she said.  Jammu and Kashmir is being administered by a Lieutenant Governor (L-G) since 2018.

(With PTI Inputs)