Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) legislator Aijaz Ahmad Mir on Thursday landed in controversy after describing the Kashmiri militants killed by Indian security forces as martyrs.
Adding fuel to the controversy, the Wachi MLA added that the deaths of militants must not be celebrated and people should sympathise with parents of militants along with jawans.
“Militants who are from Kashmir and get killed are martyrs, they are our brothers, and some of them are minors who don’t even know what they are doing,” Mir told the reporters in Jammu and Kashmir outside the state Assembly.
“We should not celebrate the killings of militants, it is our collective failure, we feel sad when our security forces are martyred as well, we should sympathise with parents of jawans and with parents of militants as well,” he added.
Just a day before on Wednesday, Mir had termed Kashmir militants as his brothers. He went on to demand talks with the Hurriyat and militants in a bid to resolve the Kashmir issue permanently.
Mir’s statement has not gone down well with the party’s ally Bharatiya Janata Party. In a stinging response, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “Terrorists and separatists are enemies of Kashmir, Kashmiris, development and peace. How can they be someone’s brother?”