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Two policemen shot dead by militants in Kashmir's Anantnag

This is second attack in less than 24 hours in the district.

Srinagar: In a second major strike against security forces in past 24 hours, Kashmiri militants on Saturday shot dead two J&K policemen in southern Anantnag.

Officials said that militants targeted a J&K police party in the main town of Anantnag, 52-km from here, critically wounding an Assistant Sub Inspector Bashir Ahmed and Constable Reyaz Ahmed.

The officials were rushed to nearby Government-run district hospital where both of them succumbed soon thereafter, hospital and police said. So far, none of the militant outfits active in Kashmir has admitted responsibility to the attack.

Meanwhile, pictures have surfaced online purportedly of the gun-wielding militants walking on a road after carrying out the attack that left two policemen dead. A police official said they were aware of the photographs and were trying to ascertain the identity of the militants involved.

(Photo: Twitter)(Photo: Twitter)

Slain ASI Bashir Ahmad Ahangar is survived by his wife and 11 years old son while Constable Reyaz Ahmad Sheikh is survived by 30 years old wife, 11 years old son, two daughters of 7 and 9 years of age, aged parents, and an unmarried sister.

Anantnag is going to polls later this month and Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, is seeking election to the J&K Assembly from this politically important segment represented by her father and Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed election in the November-December 2014 Assembly polls.

The seat fell vacant following Mufti’s death on January 7 this year. The by-poll in Anantnag is scheduled to be held on June 22 and apart from the Chief Minister, candidates of Opposition National Conference and Congress and six independents have joined the fray.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who like a few other separatist leaders continued to be under house arrest, on Friday issued a formal appeal to the people to boycott the Anantnag by-poll.

On Friday, three Border Security Force (BSF) men Head Constable G K Shukla of 1022 RT Regiment, Head Constable Dinesh Giri of 1022 RT Regiment and Constable Mahinder Ram of 64 Battalion were killed and seven others Inspector Dhanvir Singh, Constable Driver Santosh, DC Vinod Bhardawaj, Head Constables Bhagat Singh, Bishember Nath and Sikander Pal and Constable Mithlesh Kumar were wounded in a militant ambush on its convoy while passing through highway town of Bijbehara, less than ten kilometres short of Anantnag.

Kashmir’s frontline militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahedin claimed responsibility for it and said similar attacks against the security forces would be carried out in coming days. Last month, several policemen were killed and injured by militants in separate attacks in Srinagar and elsewhere.

Reports from Anantnag said that the militants shot at policemen on duty at the town’s main bus terminus at around 11.20 am. The shooting incident created panic in the area which was soon cordoned by police and CRPF reinforcements to start searches.

Jammu and Kashmir government told the State Assembly, during the budget session in summer capital Srinagar, that investigations have been launched into the Anantnag attack.

The State’s Rural Development Minister, Abdul Haq Khan, told the House on behalf of the government that two to three unidentified gunmen attacked a police naka party at the Anantnag bus terminus. “Two policemen were injured who later succumbed to their injuries. Director General of Police, K. Rajendra Kumar, and other senior officers have reached the spot and after laying cordon around the area, intense search operation is underway,” he said.

Earlier, members from Congress were joined by those from the BJP, a partner in the coalition government, to raise the issue in the House and demand that the incident may be condemned in unequivocal terms by it.

The NC leader in the House, Ali Muhammad Sagar, said the Anantnag incident and Friday’s ambush against a BSF convoy hints at ‘rise in militancy’ in the State.

He blamed the PDP-BJP’s “unholy” alliance for it and demanded response from the government on the spurt in such attacks ahead of Anantnag by-poll.

“What is government doing? The Chief Minister is herself fighting election from Anantnag and what is her government doing as security forces personnel are being killed?”, he asked.

Reacting to the attack, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday said the frequency of security forces personnel getting killed in militant attacks in the state was both "tragic and worrying".

"The regularity with which we have to tweet condolences for martyred security force personnel in J&K these days is both tragic & worrying," Omar wrote on a micro-blogging site.

Omar, who is the working president of the opposition National Conference, said the government should be alarmed by the fact that two attacks have taken place along the highway in south Kashmir since Friday.

"The realisation that both these attacks took place on the major highways of South Kashmir should have the powers that be sitting up in alarm," he said on Twitter.

"(Three) 3 BSF personnel yesterday and (two) 2 J&K police persons today. Once again my heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased," he added.

Expressing anguish over the killing of policemen in Anantnag, Chief Minister Mufti said she strongly condemns the latest “dastardly act” of the militants. She said that senseless violence is being perpetrated by the enemies of peace and that the recent attacks once again show the desperate levels to which the militants can go to disrupt peace and normalcy in the state.

“Violence is a zero sum game which does not solve any problem but gives rise to more complexities,” she said and added that only the weak resort to killings.

She also said, “The security forces personnel and the policemen, who are performing difficult duties not out of choice but to earn bread and butter for their families, are losing their precious lives in such attacks. One fails to understand why unsuspecting cops should fall prey to this senseless violence”.

She praised the security forces and the police for exercising restraint to ensure that innocent civilians do not fall prey to any retaliatory action.

The Chief Minister said the perpetrators of bloodbath must realize that it is not through the gun and grenade that political problems are resolved. “Dialogue and reconciliation are the only options for making headway in finding a solution,” she said.

“My heartfelt condolences to the families of ASI Bashir Ahmad and Constable Reyaz Ahmad! These acts depict the desperation on part of militant groups and nothing else as they are only adding to miseries of Kashmiris,” she said and added that such killings cannot deter the resolve of the government in moving ahead to bring peace and normalcy to the State and end the miseries of its people.

Earlier, Mufti visited the frontier headquarters of the BSF at Humhama here to lay wreath on the mortal remains of the three BSF personnel killed on Friday militant ambush at Bijbehara. She expressed solidarity with the Director General BSF, K K Sharma who was present and with the families of the deceased BSF jawans and prayed for peace to the departed souls.

Recalling the sacrifices of the security forces in combating militancy in the state, Mufti said such acts of senseless violence are against the basic tenets of humanity and they should be condemned by one and all.

“My heart goes out to the families of the slain BSF personnel and I hope that the perpetrators will be taken to task soon," she said. She reiterated that such attacks are attempts by vested interests to derail the peace and reconciliation process started by the state government in Jammu and Kashmir which will also impact the economy at a time when the tourism activity had started picking up in the State.

Meanwhile, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader, Muhammad Yasin Malik, was arrested again by police on Saturday morning, barely 12 hours after he was released on bail by a local court.

Police raided Malik’s Maisuma residence here and later arrested him after he addressed a hurriedly called press conference to accuse the PDP-BJP government of unleashing a reign of terror in the State.

He was earlier detained by police on May 25 from JKLF headquarters here and was subsequently imprisoned in Srinagar’s Central Jail. His re-arrest triggered protests by his supporters and party men in Maisuma area and police fired teargas canisters to quell the surging crowds and push them back into dark alleys of the congested locality which has since been placed under strict security restrictions.

Malik’s arrest came close on the heels of his pro-active efforts to strike ‘issue-based unity’ in the separatist camp. The JKLF leader had had a series of meetings with other separatist leaders including Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Sayeda Aasiya Aandrabi last month to persuade them to join a united front against what he alleged are anti Kashmiri policies of the government including “deliberate and concerted efforts being made at the behest of the RSS to change the demography of the Muslim majority state by setting up separate clusters for Kashmiri Pandits and former soldiers of the Indian Army.”

Before his re-arrest, Malik said that he will continue to strive for unity among the ‘pro-freedom’ parties and groups “even if I’m put in jail for ten years”. He termed as ‘gunda raj’, the curbs being imposed on separatists by the State administration and police.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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