SRINAGAR: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said that Pakistan has gone out of its way to target civilian population in Jammu and Kashmir.“After the inhumane and barbaric murder of 26 innocent civilians in Pahalgam, it was expected that India would use its right to respond in an appropriate and proportionate way. I think the Government of India and Indian defence forces have gone out of the way to ensure that no military and civilian targets were hit in Pakistan. They have only hit the terror bases,” he told reporters in Srinagar.Pakistan has gone out of its way to target the civilian populations, Omar said. “I have taken stock of the situation and we are dealing with the situation as it develops.” With Pakistani troops raining mortar and artillery shells on villages along the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K killing 12 people and injuring 60 others, Omar said, “We are moving more ambulances to the border areas. We are keeping an eye on the situation and as it develops our response will be tailored accordingly.” Blaming Pakistan for the heightened tension, Omar said, “We are in the situation because of them. If they had not targeted our innocent civilians in Pahalgam, we would not have been here. The ceasefire had held at the LoC for long. J&K was relatively peaceful. We were seeing a good tourist season, which is important for our economy. If today we are in a situation where shelling is happening and innocent people are dying, it is because of what happened in Pahalgam. So they have no stone to hide behind. They are the one reason why we are in this situation.”
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