Dera violence: Omar Abdullah calls for Khattar's removal

SRINAGAR: Former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should sack Haryana CM M L Khattar for "gross dereliction of duty" in the wake of mounting death toll in violence following conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh by a special CBI court in a rape case today.

"PM Modi should sack his Haryana CM for gross dereliction of duty. The CM had more than enough time to prepare for this eventuality," Omar wrote on Twitter.

The National Conference working president in his earlier tweet had questioned the response of the security forces in combating violence unleashed by Dera supporters. He said the law enforcing agencies were not equipped with non-lethal crowd control equipment.


"In light of the mounting death toll, I again repeat this tweet about the 'non-lethal crowd control' measures used extensively in Kashmir," he said.

"Chilli bombs? Pepper grenades? Pellet guns? Do the forces keep those only for protesting Kashmiris?" Omar wrote in the earlier tweet.

The former chief minister also took a dig at a few media channels which had defended the use of a civilian as a human shield in Kashmir by the Army in April this year to counter stone pelting during protests.

"No human shields in Panchkula? Tried & tested crowd control technique much appreciated in many TV news studios not long ago," he asked.

Omar also expressed surprise over the statement made by a senior security force official about the situation in the affected areas in Haryana.

"Seems all the visuals of violence are just fake news. These guys have everything under control. OB vans are self- inflicting damage!" he said.