Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Monday lavished rare praise on Jammu and Kashmir police for its campaign against drug peddlers, supporting their arrests and confiscation of their properties.
The Mirwaiz said an inter-state cartel of drug peddlers that was at play needed to be dealt with a firm hand.
The Jammu and Kashmir police have rarely got appreciation from separatists and have been accused of committing grave atrocities in both Kashmir and Jammu.
The Mirwaiz’s praise has come despite efforts by the lieutenant governor's administration, security forces and the police to connect the rising drug menace to militancy in recent years. They allege a narco-terrorism and cross-border drug smuggling racket, claiming that contraband is pushed into the Union Territory by Pakistan to fund militancy.
Though the Mirwaiz did not make such claims, he described it as a deeply troubling trend for the people. He launched a campaign against narcotics in Jammu and Kashmir after he was released this year from house detention.
“We are not negligent in acknowledging that for the past two to three weeks we have been watching that the police have activated itself (on the drug front). They have arrested many drug dealers, their properties have been confiscated, cases have been filed against them,” he told a gathering. “If the police work in the same way, people will support them. We are thanking them for this.”