A BJP councillor was shot useless and a girl injured in an assault by militants on Wednesday night time in South Kashmir’s Tral.
Rakesh Pandita, who was the chairman of the Tral Municipal Committee, stayed at a authorities lodging below safety in Srinagar resulting from militant menace, and had been assigned two Private Safety Officers (PSOs). Police stated Pandita had left his safety officers behind on his go to to Tral, a militant stronghold and his hometown.
Police stated three unidentified terrorists opened fireplace at Pandita, killing him on the spot. The injured lady was the daughter of a good friend whom he had gone to go to. “He succumbed to accidents whereas the girl is significantly wounded,” a police assertion stated.
It’s the third killing of a councillor in Kashmir this yr. On March 30, militants had stormed the workplace of the Sopore Municipal Council and killed two councillors, additionally belonging to the BJP, and a policeman.
The police, Military and paramilitary forces have cordoned off the realm and are trying to find the attackers.
The BJP stated the killed councillor, a Kashmiri Pandit, was the get together’s district secretary for Tral. “It was a barbaric assault. Killing unarmed individuals is not any bravery and police should observe down the culprits and punish them,” get together spokesperson Altaf Thakur stated, including, “Such assaults received’t cease BJP leaders from serving the individuals.”
Condemning the assault, Lt Basic Manoj Sinha tweeted, “Terrorists won’t ever succeed of their nefarious designs, and people accountable for such heinous acts shall be dropped at justice.”
Different events too condemned the killing. “These mindless acts of violence have introduced solely distress to J&Okay,” former Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti posted, providing her condolences to Pandita’s household.
Individuals’s Convention chief Sajad Lone tweeted: “This gun is a curse. Simply ponder. Because the day this menace got here into Kashmir. What have we seen. In a nut shell complete disempowerment of the Kashmiri. Expensive gunmen. Can u please return the place u got here from. We now have had sufficient.”
Elections for municipal councillors had been held in October 2018, instantly after J&Okay was put below then Governor’s rule. The 2 main mainstream political events, the Nationwide Convention and PDP, had boycotted the polls.
Militants have additionally focused elected panchs and sarpanchs, particularly in South Kashmir.