Minority worker shot dead by terrorists in J&K
UDHAMPUR: Deepu Kumar (27) was expecting his first child in June but his life was cut short in a terror attack in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, leaving his poor family without its sole breadwinner.
Kumar, who worked at a circus in the district’s Janglat Mandi area, was gunned down by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in the latest incident of targeted killing when he had gone to the market to buy milk around 8.30 pm on Monday. His body was on Tuesday moved to his remote Thial village in Udhampur district where, in a heart-wrenching gesture, locals came forward to help the Below Poverty Line-family perform his last rites.
“Kumar was the only earning hand in the family comprising his ailing father Mashu Ram, blind brother Raju and his wife, and their two minor children,” local resident
Shankar Dass said.
He said the family moved to the remote village from Kathua district over a decade back. Kumar’s mother died sometime ago. His elder brother Raju lost his eyesight about four years ago while his father is hearing impaired. “Over the past six years, he was in Kashmir and moving from place to place with his circus,” Raju said. “He married Gudya about two years ago and the couple was expecting their first child around June 15,” Sharma, who was among those accompanying the body in an ambulance, said.
Amid anti-Pakistan sloganeering, a large number of villagers turned up to receive Kumar’s body around 1.30 pm despite a drizzle. The body had left Anantnag in an ambulance under police protection at 8 am. According to the police, the victim had gone to a nearby marketplace when two motorcycle-borne men fired three bullets at him from close range. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead by doctors.
A little-known outfit, Kashmir Freedom Fighter, believed to be a shadow outfit of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the killing. A group of people also staged an anti-Pakistan protest following the killing and demanded security for members of the minority community working in the Valley.