Srinagar: Mainstream political parties in Kashmir valley, especially the BJP and J&K Apni Party, feel that they are under attack and have described the situation as alarming. The Kashmir unit of the BJP has directly blamed J&K police for not providing security and accommodation to its activists, especially in South Kashmir.
Other mainstream political parties, including the National Conference and PDP, are also worried due to the slide in the situation as Srinagar city is witnessing frequent grenade attacks. A J&K Apni Party activist in South Kashmir was killed on Thursday in the fourth attack on mainstream leaders in J&K in the past 10 days. Even in the Jammu region, especially in Rajouri and Poonch, the situation is showing a visible impact of a slide in the past few days. A JCO was killed in an operation and another army jawan was injured in Rajouri district. Earlier, on 13 August, suspected terrorists lobbed a grenade at the house of BJP leader Jasbir Singh, 36, in which his many family members were injured, including his four-year-old nephew. He later succumbed to the injuries in the hospital, triggering massive protests and police again came faced the flak for not acting on time.
On Twitter, Omar Abdullah described these killings as unfortunate and has described the fresh attacks as “very worrying”. Even Mehbooba Mufti tweeted and described such acts as unfortunate in Kashmir. Altaf Bukhari, who is head of the J&K Apni Party, has described such acts as reprehensible and has said that it is a conspiracy to stop the political process in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the Kulgam district of South Kashmir, a BJP worker was killed; most of the BJP leaders in Kashmir have blamed J&K police for not providing security to its workers in different districts of Kashmir valley, especially in South Kashmir.
Amid these controversies between BJP and the J&K police, a sarpanch belonging to BJP in South Kashmir was arrested with a pistol by J&K police and they said that they were investigating his role in violence. BJP spokesman in Kashmir Altaf Thakur has said that the arrested sarpanch by police is not affiliated to the party. Police spokesman has identified them as BJP Sarpanch Aqib Shafi Badder and his friend Muhammed Amin Hajam, a resident of Anantnag. “A pistol, two magazines and 12 rounds were recovered from the duo,” a police spokesman told the media. The controversy started when, after the killing of BJP worker Javeed Ahmad Dar in the Brazloo village of Kulgam, police said in a statement that they have no information about Dar being affiliated to the BJP, so there was no question of providing him any security cover. “The district unit of BJP did not inform us if he was to be provided security since his name did not figure in the list of PPs (protected persons),” a police statement said in Srinagar recently. According to the BJP, Javeed Dar was in-charge of the party for the Homeshalibug Assembly constituency, and blamed the police for keeping him vulnerable to the attack. Earlier in Anantnag district of South Kashmir, a BJP sarpanch and his wife who was also the panch of the BJP, were killed in their rented accommodation despite having a PSO to protect them. After their killing, the PSO was suspended and the government said that they will probe the incident and fix responsibility. Abid Hussian, BJP district president from Kulgam, told media after the killing of Javeed Dar, that J&K police was trying to hide under lies and said that the list of 30 BJP functionaries was sent by him to the district police chief and to the Deputy Commissioner of Kulgam. On social media, the BJP unit of Kashmir circulated the letter written by the BJP district chief of Kulgam, requesting the government to provide security. Spokesman of BJP in Srinagar said the J&K government, especially police, should provide security to all the party workers across Kashmir valley.