LeT militant freed, two cops killed
SRINAGAR: Militants stormed a government-run hospital in Srinagar on Tuesday, killed two policemen and freed a Lashkar-eTaiba terrorist who was being treated there in custody, police officials said.
Shots were heard in the casualty ward of the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, where Pakistani terror suspect Naveed Jhatt and five other prisoners had been brought for a checkup around 11.35am. “It was a planned militant attack. The gunmen shot at the policemen accompanying Jhatt,” Srinagar deputy inspector general (DIG) of police Ghulam Hassan Bhat said.
According to CCTV footage, the two militants opened fire in the crowded hospital, targeting head constable Mushtaq Ahmad and constable Babar Ahmad Khan, police said.
Ahmad died on the spot, while Khan succumbed to his injuries a few hours later.
Jhatt, who sneaked into India in the winter of 2012 after training at the Lashkar’s headquarters in Muridke, managed to escape with the two militants, police said.
The footage shows the three running away from the hospital premises.
An interim police report said they fled on motorcycles.
A third policeman who was guarding Jhatt did not respond to the firing, the report added.
Jhatt, also called Abu Hanzulla, is a resident of Multan in Pakistan’s Punjab province. He was arrested from south Kashmir, the hotbed of militancy, in 2014 and was lodged in Srinagar’s Rainawari jail. He was accused of killing three policemen and a teacher, police said.Jammu & Kashmir’s director general of police SP Vaid described it as a “very unfortunate incident”.
“The terrorists managed to free one of their hardcore accomplices. We have sounded a red alert to nab all those involved in this crime,” he said.
DIG Bhat said there was no security lapse. Jhatt was referred for treatment to the hospital and the group of six detainees was accompanied by officers of five police stations and 18 other policemen, he said. But DGP (Prisons) S K Mishra has ordered an internal inquiry, said a police spokesperson.
The other five prisoners taken for treatment remain in custody.
At the time of the copy going to press, the LeT had not claimed responsibility for the attack.
CM Mehbooba Mufti said the attack on the hospital was an act of cowardice. “Pained to hear that two more brave policemen lost their lives in an attack in Srinagar. My heart goes out to their families and loved ones,” Mehbooba said on Twitter. The Congress demanded a probe while the National Conference termed the attack the “biggest security lapse” as it had happened in a heavily guarded complex.
JAMMU: From 2015 to 2017, at least 280 Kashmiri youth picked up the gun and joined terror outfits while more than 11,000 security personnel sustained injuries in stone-pelting incidents across Jammu and Kashmir, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti informed the state assembly on Tuesday.
Notably, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had formed the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir on March 1, 2015.
Responding to a query by National Conference MLA from Khanyar, Ali Mohammed Sagar, the chief minister in a written reply said that “as many as of 280 youth joined militancy in the past three years”.
She said in 2015, a total of 66 youth joined militant ranks, 88 youth in 2016 and 126 youth in 2017. Mehbooba also holds the portfolio of home department.
News agency PTI said that according to data placed before Parliament in March last year, there has been a steady increase in the number of youths taking up arms in the Valley from 2014 onwards, as compared to 2011, 2012 and 2013.
To another query, she said that certain separatist leaders including two women were detained under the provisions of Public Safety Act to prevent them from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the state or maintenance of the public order.
The chief minister also replied that as of now, no person affiliated with any recognised political party is under preventive detention.
In the Upper House, the chief minister said as many as 11,566 security personnel were injured in 4,736 stone-pelting incidents in Kashmir during the last three years.
She also said that a total of 110 civilians and two policemen also lost their lives during these incidents.
The chief minister, in a written reply to a question by Congress MLC Naresh Kumar Gupta, said that as many as 9,670 police personnel and 1,896 security forces personnel were injured in 4,736 incidents of stone-pelting in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
She further said that in 2017, a total of 1,690 security personnel were injured, in 2016, as many as 9,235 personnel were injured, and in 2015, 641 personnel were injured in the incidents of stone-pelting.
Meanwhile, the state government also informed the Lower House that as of January 31, 2018, 2,694 prisoners were lodged in different prisons across Jammu and Kashmir.
As per details provided by the government, they were 228 males and eight female convicts; 2,156 male and 88 female undertrials and 213 male and one female detenues under the PSA/ NDPS Act.
The chief minister said details of prisoners (state subjects) lodged in various jails outside the state are not maintained by the home department.
No person affiliated with any recognised political party is under preventive detention as on date, she added.
IN A WRITTEN REPLY TO THE STATE ASSEMBLY, MEHBOBBA SAYS THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO PICKED UP GUN IN THE STRIFETORN STATE INCREASED OVER SUBSEQUENT YEARS