Farooq Abdullah neither backs nor refutes Shahid Afridi's controversial tweet

One way to look at Abdullah's comment is that he could be referring to violence in general. What Afridi referred to as killings was in a different sense altogether.

When Shahid Afridi is drawing criticism from across India for his unnecessary tweet on Kashmir, National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah has decided to give a response which seems as if he is backing the Pakistani cricketer. Afridi stirred a hornet's nest yesterday (April 3) by urging the United Nations to intervene in Kashmir issue and calling the prevailing situation in the valley as "appalling and worrisome".

When asked to comment on Afridi's tweet, Abdullah said the killings (in Kashmir) must stop, but did not clearly say if he agreed with Afridi or not. Abdullah's reaction assumes significance because Afridi had tweeted that "innocents are being shot down by oppressive regime".

"Everybody has condemned the killings in Kashmir. Every nation is condemning the killing, the killing must stop," said Abdullah.

Now, killings are taking place in Kashmir almost on a daily basis. Security forces are aggressively gunning down terrorists backed by Pakistan, and on the other hand, terrorists are killing the civilians. One way to look at Abdullah's comment is that he could be referring to violence in general. What Afridi referred to as killings were in a different sense altogether.

Afridi's tweet said, "Appalling and worrisome situation ongoing in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.Innocents being shot down by oppressive regime to clamp voice of self determination & independence. Wonder where is the @UN & other int bodies & why aren't they making efforts to stop this bloodshed?"

On Sunday, 12 terrorists were killed in the Valley in one of the biggest security operations in recent history. In the operations, which were conducted over the weekend in three separate locations in the Valley, 12 terrorists were killed, one was captured alive and four civilians lost their lives in the ensuing stone-pelting. Three jawans were also martyred in the gun battle with the terrorists.