Omar distances from MLA’s comment over killing of Lt Ummer

Srinagar, May 11 (IANS) Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday distanced himself from a controversial comment made by his party legislator about the killing of Lt. Ummer Fayaz.

Talking to Times Now channel, National Conference MLA Abdul Majid Larmi had said: "Nobody knows who killed Lt. Ummer."

Reacting to the same, Omar Abdullah expressed his views on twitter: "I neither endorse nor do I condone what the MLA Homshalibugh (Larmi) has said to a news channel. He had no business making unsubstantiated claims."

Omar went on to say: "If the channel is going to take a byte from a person who they know is only speaking in his personal capacity that's the channel's problem."

"That said I hardly think I owe anyone, least of all the channel concerned, an apology for views that are neither mine nor my party's," Omar wrote.

The 22-year-old Lt. Ummer Fayaz, commissioned into 2 Rajputana Rifles in December last year, was on the first leave of his career to attend the marriage of his cousin when militants abducted him on May 9. His bullet-riddled body was found on Wednesday in Shopian district.

A day after the dastardly murder of the unarmed officer, the Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi arrived in Srinagar to take stock of the security situation.