Kashmiri Pandit’s killing sparks stir, police resort to lathicharge 2 LET TERRORISTS GUNNED DOWN IN ENCOUNTER WITH FORCES: POLICE
SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday resorted to baton charge and firing of tear gas shells to disperse Kashmiri Pandit community members marching towards Srinagar airport to protest the killing of Rahut Bhat by terrorists in Budgam a day back, officials said.
The protesters first assembled at the Sheikhpora area of Budgam district, in central Kashmir, and then tried to proceed towards the airport but were stopped by a posse of police personnel, they said.
They were requested to disperse but they refused to budge and insisted on marching ahead, following which the police used batons and fired some tear smoke shells, the officials said.
There are no reports of any casualty, they added.
The community has been protesting since Thursday against the “failure” of the government to protect their lives. Bhat (35), a Kashmiri Pandit employee, was shot dead by terrorists at a crowded government office in the Chadoora area of Budgam on Thursday. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, meanwhile, claimed that she has been placed under house arrest to stop her from visiting Budgam to express solidarity with the protesting Kashmiri Pandits.
In a tweet, Mufti said she was put under house arrest as the BJP did not want Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits to empathise with each other’s pain.
“Wanted to visit Budgam to express my solidarity with Kashmiri Pandits protesting against GOIs failure to protect them. Have been put under house arrest as the fact that Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits empathise with each other’s pain doesn’t fit into their vicious communal narrative,” the PDP chief said.
Police officials, however, refused to comment over Mufti’s claim.
Later, in a video message, Mufti said the situation in Kashmir was getting from bad to worse.
She also urged the majority community in the valley to stand by the minorities.
“While the central government is playing a game of pitting Hindus against Muslims to hide its failures and presenting them as the biggest enemies of each other, Jammu and Kashmir is the only state where Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists are living together as one,” Mufti said.
“So, it is the duty of all people of Jammu and Kashmir to stand together with those who live among us -- be it Kashmiri Pandits or Sikh brothers, like the way we had protected their lives and properties in 1947 when Gandhiji also had seen a ray of hope from Kashmir at that time,” she added.
Mufti also urged the people to uphold Jammu and Kashmir’s legacy of brotherhood and unity.
“We have to stand with our minorities, and so, I appeal all the people to strongly advocate Hindu-Muslim brotherhood across all the mosques on the occasion of Friday congregational prayers. been shot at by a terrorist at his residence in Gudoora village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama and was receiving treatment at a hospital in Pulwama.The area has been cordoned off.
“Terrorist fired upon Police Constable Reyaz Ahmed Thoker Son of Ali Mohammed at his residence at Gudroo, Pulwama. He has been shifted to Hospital. The area has been cordoned off. Further details shall follow,” the Kashmir Zone Police said in a tweet.
SRINAGAR: Two Lashkar-e-Taiba ( LeT) terrorists who had recently infiltrated into Kashmir were killed in an encounter with security forces in Bandipora district on Friday, police said.
Security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in Brar in the Aragam area of Bandipora in north Kashmir following inputs about the presence of terrorists there, a police official said. He said the search operation turned into an encounter after the hiding terrorists fired upon security forces personnel, who retaliated. In the ensuing exchange of fire, two terrorists were killed, he said.
Professor, cop sacked over terror links
Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday sacked three government employees, including a professor and a policeman, for their alleged links with terror groups, officials said.
The trio was terminated from services based on the recommendation of a designated committee constituted under Article 311 (2) (c) of the Constitution that allows dismissal from service without an inquiry in the interest of the State’s security.
Those sacked are Altaf Hussain Pandit, chemistry professor at Kashmir University, Mohammed Maqbool Hajam, teacher in the school education department, and Ghulam Rasool, a constable with the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
Hussain Pandit is actively associated with the proscribed Jamaat-e-Islam (JeI). He continued to be an active cadre of JeI and worked as a terror recruiter.
Pandit was instrumental in organising stone pelting and violent protests over the killing of terrorists in 2011 and 2014, the officials said.
THOKER WAS SHOT AT HIS RESIDENCE IN GUDOORA VILLAGE AND WAS RECEIVING TREATMENT AT A HOSPITAL IN PULWAMA