Farooq Abdullah Seeks Probe Into Nowgam Police Station Blast, Calls It ‘A Serious Mistake’
Farooq Abdullah urges inquiry into Srinagar blast that killed nine officials.
National Conference President and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has demanded a thorough, independent investigation into the Nowgam Police Station blast, which killed nine people and injured over 30 on Friday. Abdullah said the explosion could have been avoided if proper protocols and expert advice had been followed while handling the explosive material recovered during an ongoing investigation.
Speaking to ANI in Srinagar, Abdullah said local authorities should not have attempted to handle the high-risk material without specialist assistance. “This is our mistake. Those who understand explosives better should have been called in. Instead, we tried to handle it ourselves, and the result is that nine people lost their lives and several houses were damaged,” he remarked. The former CM also expressed his condolences to the victims’ families and questioned the lack of safety measures in sensitive operations.
Abdullah further linked the incident to the growing atmosphere of mistrust toward Kashmiri residents in the country following the recent blast in Delhi. “We haven’t yet come out of the crisis in Delhi, where fingers are being pointed at every Kashmiri. When will we be accepted as Indians? The authorities should ask who is truly responsible and why such situations arise,” he said.
Also Read: Kejriwal Condemns Srinagar Police Station Blast, Demands Accountability Over Security Failures
The blast, which took place inside the Nowgam Police Station premises during the examination of explosive materials by forensic teams, led to massive structural damage in the area. According to Jammu and Kashmir Police, nine personnel were killed, including one officer from the State Investigation Agency (SIA), three forensic experts, two crime-scene photographers, two revenue officials assisting the team, and a civilian tailor.
Jammu and Kashmir DGP Nalin Prabhat stated that preliminary evidence pointed to an inadvertent explosion during a routine forensic procedure. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) confirmed that the accident involved highly unstable explosive material recovered during the probe into a terror module linked to the November 10 Delhi Red Fort blast that killed 12 people. Abdullah reiterated that accountability is crucial and called for identifying procedural lapses to prevent such tragedies in the future.
Also Read: Kejriwal Condemns Srinagar Police Station Blast, Demands Accountability Over Security Failures
