2 NC men shot dead in Valley; Centre slams Pak
Incident comes 3 days before Srinagar local polls
Just three days before local body elections in Srinagar, three workers of the National Conference ( NC) were on Friday shot at from point blank range by unknown gunmen in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital. While two of them died soon after being admitted to hospital, the third is battling for life, police and hospital sources said.
The attack came on a day when home minister Rajnath Singh blamed Pakistan for the unrest in the state and claimed that 90 per cent of the people in the state would like to participate the panchayat and urban local bodies polls. The polling for the Srinagar municipal corporation is scheduled on October 8.
Srinagar senior superintendent of police Imtiyaz Ismail said that three NC workers were sitting in a shop in Qarfali Mohalla when attacked.
“It appears they were targeted deliberately. It wasn’t a sort of indiscriminate act of firing,” he said.
The slain have been identified as Mushtaq Ahmed Wani and Nazir Ahmed Bhat while the injured was identified as Shakeel Ahmed Zangoo.
The authorities have blamed the shooting on separatist militants, but none of the militant outfit has owned responsibility.
The separatists and supporting militants
We have always tried to improve relations with Pakistan. But the country will not mend its ways. It continues to sponsor terrorism in J& K — Rajnath Singh,
Home minister
of the country and, therefore, the government has taken the decision in the national interest,” he said.
Mr Modi and Mr Putin also discussed global issues including the role of the United States with whom Moscow’s ties have considerably soured. Mr Putin is also understood to have even asked Mr Modi for tips on implementing the GST ( Goods and Services Tax), which Russia is hoping to roll out soon.
On the S- 400 deal, an Indo- Russian joint statement issued said, “The ( two) sides welcomed the conclusion of the contract for the supply of the S- 400 long- range surface- to- air missile system to India.”
In fact, this was the only official reference to the deal which was made way below in the joint statement. There was no mention of it when Prime Minister Modi and President Putin addressed the media on Friday afternoon at Hyderabad House in the Capital after discussions between them held at the 19th edition of the Annual Bilateral Summit.
Russia will also fully support India in the Gaganyaan manned space programme expected to be launched in 2022 and the countries are also set to begin a “Ganga- Volga Dialogue” to revive and give a major impetus to civilisational and peopletopeople links between the two countries.
Moscow also said that it was ready to ramp up oil
Apart from Afghanistan and Syria, the two countries also discussed the situation arising from the US withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal ◗ Moscow also offered to sell its commercial aviation aircraft to India and also offered New Delhi mining opportunities
production to stabilise global oil prices, with PM Modi telling President Putin that rising global oil prices had impacted the Indian economy.
In another move, Moscow also offered to sell its commercial aviation aircraft to India and also offered New Delhi mining opportunities in the Russian Far East.
Another proposed deal between India and Russia for construction of guidedmissile frigates was also discussed, sources said.
After the talks, Mr Modi said Indo- Russian ties were New Delhi’s “top priority” and referred to the “special and privileged strategic partnership” between the two countries, adding that Russia has always “stood by” India.
The two sides also discussed the menace of terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan, with the issue of terror sanctuaries in Pakistan coming up in that context, sources said.
While the joint statement “denounced terrorism in all its forms” and “condemned all kinds of state support to terrorists including cross border terrorism and providing safe havens to terrorists and their network”, there was no direct reference to Pakistan and this has raised a few eyebrows. Russia’s ties with Pakistan have improved significantly in the past few years.
Apart from an MoU between the Indian Space Research Organisation ( ISRO) and the Federal Space Agency of Russia ‘ ROSCOSMOS’ in the field of human space flight programme, a pact was signed on an “Action Plan for Prioritization and Implementation of Cooperation Areas in the Nuclear Field”.
The joint statement said, “The ( two) sides noted the progress achieved in the construction of the remainder of the six power units at Kudankulam nuclear power plant ( NPP) as well as the efforts being made in the components manufacturing for localisation.”
On trade ties, the joint statement said, “The ( two) sides reviewed the progress on the achievement of the goal to increase two- way investment to $ 30 billion by 2025.”
Apart from Afghanistan and Syria, the two countries also discussed the situation arising from the US withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. Both Moscow and New Delhi felt it was important to keep Iran in a deal to ensure it does not develop nuclear weapons.