Anantnag encounter: Asaduddin Owaisi hits out at govt, says ’And we are playing cricket’ vs Pakistan

Expressing anguish over the death of four Indian security personnel amid the continuous terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Saturday questioned the point of allowing the India-Pakistan cricket World Cup match at Narendra Modi stadium in Gujarat's Ahmedabad.

Owaisi even called the Anantnag encounter a ‘failure’ of the government. He said as ANI quoted, "My question to the prime minister is where is the anger he displayed at the time of Pulwama attack. Our soldiers lost their lives and we are playing cricket in Ahmedabad…You said that the abrogation of Article 370 solved everything.”

As per details, the operation in the dense forest area in the Anantnag district entered into its fourth day on Saturday, where three soldiers - Colonel Manpreet Singh, commanding officer of 19 Rashtriya Rifles, Major Aashish Dhonchak from the same battalion, and DSP of Jammu and Kashmir Police Humayun Muzamil Bhat were killed in the encounter. Another soldier also succumbed to his injuries on Friday.

ALSO READ: Baramulla encounter: ‘Firing from Pakistani post…’, says Indian Army on third terrorist killed

The security forces have deployed drones and helicopters to surveil the hilly terrain and figure out the locations of the terrorists in the forests at Gadole in the Kokernag area of the south Kashmir district.

Additional director general of Police (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar said that the operation was launched based on specific input. "Retired police/Army officers should avoid 'ambush hypothesis'. It is a specific input-based op. Ops are in progress and all 2-3 trapped terrorists will be neutralized," he said.

Meanwhile, the Indian Army and Jammu and Kashmir Police foiled a major infiltration bid by killing three terrorists along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Uri town of Baramulla district, Brigadier PMS Dhillon, commander of the Pir Panjal Brigade, on 16 September.

"Based on specific inputs, in a joint operation launched by the Indian Army and Jammu and Kashmir Police, an infiltration bid was foiled today in Baramulla. Three terrorists tried to infiltrate and were engaged by alert troops. Two terrorists were eliminated and their bodies were recovered, the third terrorist was killed but the retrieval of the body was interfered with by the firing from a Pakistani post in the vicinity. Search operations are underway," the brigadier said at a press briefing.

Earlier in the day, the Indian Army in a statement had said that the three killed terrorists had attempted to infiltrate through the Hathlanga forward area of Uri at 6:45 am.

The terrorists opened fire on the Army which led to the encounter and a fierce gunfight started, the statement added.

"The army came under heavy firing across the border from Pakistan army when they were attempting to retrieve the body of a third killed terrorist," the Indian Army said in its statement.

With agency inputs.