On Sunday evening, two non-locals were shot dead and one injured after unidentified gunmen fired upon them in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir. The security forces have cordoned off the area. The three non-locals have been identified as Raja Reshi Dev (dead), Joginder Reshi Dev (dead), and Chunchun Reshi Dev (injured)—all belonging to Bihar. Dr Mohammed Iqbal Sofi, Medical Superintendent GMC Anantnag said that the injured non-local labourer has a ballistic trauma in his arm and is stable for now.
“#Terrorists fired indiscriminately upon #NonLocal labourers at Wanpoh area of #Kulgam. In this #terror incident, 02 non-locals were killed and 01 injured. Police & SFs cordoned off the area. Further details shall follow. @JmuKmrPolice,” Kashmir Zone Police tweeted.
The horrific attack took place after two non-locals were shot dead in Srinagar and Pulwama. Of late, there has been a spike in the targeted killings of civilians in the valley.
A week after a series of attacks on civilians, a state of panic gripped Kashmir once again, as on Saturday evening, unidentified gunmen carried out an attack killing two non-locals.
On Saturday, Arvind Kumar Sah, a gol gappa vendor from Bihar, was shot in his head from point-blank range in Srinagar. Minutes later, reports came of Sagheer Ahmad, a carpenter belonging to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, being shot at in south Kashmir’s Pulwama. Ahmad later succumbed to his injuries.
Virendra Paswan, another non-local vendor from Bihar was shot dead in Srinagar on 5 October, besides renowned Kashmiri Pandit chemist Makhan Lal Bindroo, while Mohammad Shafi Lone, president of the local cab drivers’ association in Naidkhai was killed in Bandipora district. Other civilians who have been killed recently include Parvez Ahmad, Majeed Guru, Shafi Dar, Satinder Kour, Deepak Chand, and Arvind Kumar.
Amid the spate of killing of non-combatants, especially non-local labourers, in Kashmir, the region’s police chief Vijay Kumar was said to have issued an emergency advisory, directing police officials to give protection to all non-local labourers in their jurisdiction in police stations, and several other security establishments. The report was circulated over social media on Sunday evening. However, moments later, The Daily Guardian confirmed from IGP Vijay Kumar that the circulated report was fake, and there were no orders given as such.
Meanwhile, top leaders of several major political parties in J&K have condemned the civilian killings.
Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, and the president of JKPDP, Mehbooba Mufti, took to Twitter to say, “There are no words strong enough to condemn the repeated barbaric attacks on innocent civilians. My heart goes out to their families because they leave the comforts of their homes to earn a dignified livelihood. Terribly sad.”
Omar Abdullah, former Chief Minister of J&K and vice president of National Conference also tweeted condemning the killings that took place on Saturday: “Strongly condemn the killing of Sageer Ahmed in Pulwama today. Another man who came to the valley in search of an income, in this case as a carpenter. His death in the 2nd terror attack today is a grim reminder of the precarious security situation in Kashmir these days.”
IGP Kumar, few days earlier, had denied that the incidents were the result of any security lapses. “I have been saying time and again that there was no security lapse… (The militants) attacked soft targets, whom we had not provided security. It is not possible to provide security to every soft target,” he told journalists.
“We have identified them (suspected assailants behind the killings of civilians). Two have been neutralised. Three others will also be neutralised soon,” he added.
Meanwhile, police on Friday claimed to have killed two militants in separate gunfights in Srinagar and Pulwama—Shahid Bashir and Tanzeel Ahmad, both residents of Srinagar—as “collaborators” in the recent killings.
In the month of October so far in Jammu & Kashmir, nearly 38 persons have lost their lives in armed violence, which include 9 members of Indian Army (including two Junior Commissioned Officers), 12 non-combatants, 13 militants, and three government soldiers who died by suicide.