Killing of lawyer, BDC chief raises security concerns

Srinagar: The killing of Bhupinder Singh, chairman of the Block Development Council (BDC) Khag, in central Kashmir of Budgam, and Babar Qadri, a prominent lawyer and television debater, by unknown gunmen in the past two days, has raised a question mark on the security cover of ground workers who are vulnerable to such attacks in Kashmir.

Before his killing, Qadri, in a tweet three days ago, urged J&K Police to file an FIR against the person who was involved in a smear campaign dubbing him to be working for agencies. Police did not act, but gunmen came to his house on Thursday evening and killed him at his Hawal residence in Srinagar. Some local reports blamed some sections of separatists for the killing of Babar Qadri as he was very vocal against the Hurriyat and against lawyers like Mian Abdul Qayoom who were close to separatists. The All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), in a statement on Friday, expressed shock and grief at the killing of advocate Qadri at his residence.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday said it has constituted a special investigation team to probe Babar Qadri’s killing. IGP Police said that they will soon either arrest or neutralise those persons responsible for Qadri’s killing. “He (Qadri) had said he did not want to leave his house. I have seen the tweet by him about danger to his life. Unfortunately, he had not tagged the Kashmir police in that tweet, but Jammu police,” IGP Kashmir said.

Earlier, unidentified gunmen killed Bhupinder Singh, affiliated to the BJP, at his ancestral village despite the fact that he had security cover. Police said that he was wounded after an attack and later succumbed to injuries. Police further said that he had two PSOs for personal security, had dropped the security personnel at his Allochi Bagh Srinagar and proceeded towards Khag village in Budgam. All the mainstream political parties have condemned the killings of Babar Qadri and Bhupinder Singh.