While addressing a gathering on the occasion of 36th death anniversary of his father Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah on Saturday, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said that his party will boycott both parliamentary and assembly elections if the Central government did not clear its stand on the special position being enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir in the Constitution. Accusing the BJP government at the Centre of not being sincere about solving the problems of Kashmiris, he said that the government was trying to thrust elections on them. Abdullah pitched for the need of cordial and friendly relations with Pakistan and said that hostility between India and Pakistan was not in the interest of people of Jammu and Kashmir. He said that people of Kashmir have suffered a lot because of Indo-Pak enmity and said that the two countries must develop cordial relations for peace and development in the sub-continent. Abdullah alleged that the BJP government wants to fiddle with Article 35(A) and Article 370 in order to create their vote bank for the next elections. The state administration has announced to conduct civic and panchayat elections from October 1 December 2018.
Hurriyat activist, student shot dead
Unidentified gunmen shot dead an activist of Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference and a student in two different incidents in Kashmir valley on Saturday morning.
Hurriyat activist Hakeem-ur-Rehman was shot dead by some gun-wielding persons near his house at Bomai Sopore, the stronghold of Geelani. Terrorists have alleged that the Central Government has resurrected Ikhwan-type militias in order to kill people involved in terror activities. Police said that they have registered a case and have started investigation into the killing of the activist. The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) has said that they have constituted a committee to gather the details about the killing of Rehman. He was released from the jail recently after 20 months of imprisonment, a JRL statement added. Hours after the Sopore incident, unknown gunmen again struck in Naseem Bagh area of Hazratbal in Srinagar and killed a student of Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST). Giving the details, police said that they have recovered his identified card which shows the slain youth as Ishfaq Ahmad, a student of IUST. SSP Srinagar Imtiaz Ismail Parray told the media that they are trying to identify the victim and they have recovered a pistol from his possession.