Lashkar offshoot behind Tral attack: Police
People’s Anti Fascist Front (PAFF), a previously unknown group, has claimed the responsibility for the killing of the chairman of Tral municipal committee, Rakesh Pandita.
In a statement to local media, PAFF accused Pandita, a BJP leader, of creating a “network of informers, drug traffickers and immoral activities”. The PAFF said it was “keeping an eye on the activities of these forces”.
Police said PAFF appears to be a front of militant organisations active in south Kashmir and added that security forces have cordoned off the attack scene and launched a search operation to nab the assailants. The police said that PAFF is the name created as a cover to Lashkar and other groups active in Kashmir.
Pandita was shot dead in J&K’s Tral on Wednesday night when he was visiting a friend’s house, the police said and added his personal security officers (PSOs) were not accompanying him when he was attacked.
The police cited violation of the SOPs and said Pandita, 56, should have avoided going to his native village without his security cover, which was provided to him along with a secured accommodation in Srinagar.
The police are investigating why the PSOs were not accompanying Pandita and said action could be taken against his security officers. “He (Pandita) had gone to Jammu and left PSOs in Kashmir. After returning from Jammu, he went to Tral without PSOs to meet his friend Mustaq Bhat. Investigations are going on,” said a senior police officer.
The police have issued fresh instructions to political leaders not to move without PSOs.