Govt official gunned down by terrorists near Srinagar
Kashmiri Pandit latest victim of target killings
In the latest incident of target killing, a government official belonging to ther minority Kashmiri Pandit (Brahmin Hindu) community fell to the gunmen’s bullets in Chadoora area outside Srinagar on Thursday evening. The authorities identified the victim as Rahul Bhat and blamed his murder on separatist militants.
Police sources said that 35-year-old Bhat was targeted by two pistol-borne men inside the tehsil office premises at Chadoora where he worked as a clerk. He was rushed to Srinagar’s government-run Sri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, where he succumbed to the injuries.
Bhat, originally a resident of Sangrampora village of the Valley’s central district of Budgam, lived at a migrant transit camp located at Sheikhapora on the outskirts of Srinagar, sources said, adding that he had been appointed in the J&K revenue department in the first batch of the Prime Minister’s job package for displaced Kashmiri Pandits in 2010.
Soon after the incident, the J&K police along with the Army and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) launched a search operation in the area to capture the assailants alive or dead.
On hearing about the incident, protests by Kashmiri Pandits were held at several places in the Kashmir Valley and Jammu region against. They lit candles in memory of and to pay respects the victim. They also briefly locked the Srinagar-Jammu highway (NH-44) to vent their anger, the witnesses said.
Meanwhile, government employees belonging to the Kashmiri Pandit community have threatened mass resignations if their security cover is not strengthened further.
Inspector general of police Vijay Kumar visited the Sheikhapora migrant colony to expresses solidarity with the bereaved.