‘Spoke in fit of anger’, Satya Pal Malik clarifies his ‘Kill’ statement

Clarifying his Sunday’s statement ‘kill those who robbed your state,’ Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Monday said he should not have made such a comment.

“Whatever I said was in a fit of anger and frustration due to rampant corruption here. As Governor, I should have not made such a comment, but my personal feeling is the same as I said. Many political leaders and big bureaucrats are steeped in corruption here,” Malik told new agency ANI on Monday .

Malik stirred a controversy on Sunday with his comment: “…These boys with gun are killing their own people for no reason. They kill PSOs (personal security officers), SPOs (special police officers). Why are you killing them? Kill those who robbed your country; those who robbed the whole wealth of Kashmir. Have you ever killed anyone of those?” He was speaking at the inauguration of the Kargil and Ladakh tourism festival at Khree Sultan Cho Sports Stadium Kargil.

Suspected militants shot dead Farooq Ahmad Reshi, a personal security officer (PSO) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Sajjad Mufti in Anantnag on Friday afternoon.

Malik said that the militants are losing their lives for no reason.

“Nothing will come out of this. Nothing will be achieved by gun wielding because nobody can bend a government with a gun in India. In Sri Lanka, an organisation like the LTTE, a powerful terrorist organisation in the world, was just finished. You take everything by dialogue,” he said.

Without identifying anyone, Malik accused politicians of double speak. “These netas who spread fear in Delhi, provoke them here. I told them to talk in one voice,” he said.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah reacting to Governor Malik’s statements said, “This man, ostensibly a responsible man occupying a constitutional position, tells militants to kill politicians perceived to be corrupt. Perhaps the man should find out about his own reputation in Delhi these days before sanctioning unlawful killings and kangaroo courts.”