BJP state secy, brother killed on Jammu street

JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secretary Anil Parihar and his brother, Ajit, were killed in a suspected militant attack in Kishtwar district late on Thursday night, a police official said.

Parihar, aged around 53 years, had been associated with the BJP for over three decades. His younger brother was an employee of the state forest corporation.

“Both of them were returning home after closing their stationery shop when some unidentified gunmen shot them point blank,” said the official.

Tension flared up in Kishtwar after the killing of the BJP leader, with people gathering outside the hospital where the victims were taken to. There were reports that mobs targeted a police station.

Kishtwar deputy commissioner Angrez Singh Rana imposed a curfew in Kishtwar town. He also imposed section 144 of CRPC prohibiting the gathering of more than four people.

The assailants were apparently waiting for the brothers at a

dark, narrow lane leading to their house and used pistols to target them, officials told news agency Press Trust of India.

Divisional commissioner (Jammu) Sanjeev Verma said the police were investigating the matter.

BJP state president Ravinder Raina said, “The cowards attacked them in the dark... We strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The terrorists involved in it will not be spared. In this hour of grief, entire BJP and the coun-