KL Report
SRINAGAR
Director General of Police Ashok Prasad Sunday said that it is not police but Syed Ali Geelani who is restricting the movement of people.
“Geelani comes up with shutdown calls forcing people to remain inside their houses. It is wrong to hold police responsible for the inconvenience faced by people,” Prasad told Srinagar based news gathering agency CNS adding that the graph of militancy has come down considerably.
He said people never blame Geelani but they always raise finger on police, which is meant for the protection of people.
Ashok Prasad said that Hizbul Mujhadeen is trying to instigate violence in Kashmir and for this purpose, it is adopting different tactics. “Tral and Sopore are two towns where militants are present in large number. Though we have achieved great successes against these militants still they are present in some parts of North and South Kashmir,” DGP said.
While replying to a question, Ashok Prasad said that some people got undue publicity by organizing a parallel concert in Srinagar. “The Organizers of the event had tried to give an impression that police is not permitting them while we told them to go ahead and did not stop anyone from attending the concert,” he said.
Ashok Prasad said that it is a wrong notion that police stopped people from moving towards Shalimar. “Did we stop those who were in possession of Invitation Cards? Entry in Shalimar was subjected to Invitation and we simply followed the procedure,” he said.
Director General of Police told CNS that police has changed it strategy and is adopting pro-people approach. “Militants are not after us but it is we who are after them. Militancy has come down by 30 per cent and the graph of civilian casualties has come down. Srinagar is militancy free area. Militants from Sopore and other town sometimes make their entry into Srinagar and fled from the City after carrying stray attacks,” Prasad said.
Prasad said that it is not the police, which could claim that peace has returned to Valley. “People are the best judge and it is they who could say whether they are feeling secure or insecure?” he said.
