Srinagar, July 27 -- Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti has triggered a political storm after drawing a parallel between the Gen-Z protesters at Delhi's Jantar Mantar and the agitators in Kashmir, asserting that force was justified in the Valley to fight militancy.

During her Jantar Mantar visit earlier this week, Mehbooba Mufti said the government's crackdowns on local demonstrators in the past were justified in the context of its fight against militancy.

The comments drew swift and sharp backlash from rival political parties, who revived the former chief minister's 2016 remark - in which she asked if the young protesters who approached the Army posts were there to buy "milk and toffee" - to accuse her of blatant hypocri...