Tuesday’s attack on the house of J&K education minister Naeem Akhtar is only the latest instance of brazen defiance in the trouble-tossed valley. In the last few days, two other PDP MLAs, one of them a minister, have been targeted by angry mobs. One of them, Khalil Bandh elected from Pulwama, has been in critical condition in a Delhi hospital since July 18.
Rural development minister Abdul Haq was set upon at Tangdhar in north Kashmir by an angry mob with stones and chased. He managed to escape in his cavalcade, sources said. Bandh was also attacked by mobs that left him with a grievous head injury.
J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti, was also heckled by parents of students appearing for medical entrance test at the Government Women’s College in Srinagar last Sunday and had to beat a hasty retreat from the examination centre.
Nearly all BJP ministers and MLAs have left for the “safer” haven of Jammu. This is not all. Cops have been forced to evacuate nearly 10 police posts and stations in south Kashmir under attack by mob.
J&K police are having to face attacks on their houses, and their relatives are not being spared either. The main police station in militancy-stricken Tral is shut, as are police posts in Kanginoora and Chattrigam in the district. In south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, Dhamal Hanjipora, Arwani, Lassipora and Yaripora police stations are shut. Cops in these posts have taken shelter in CRPF or Army camps, sources said. A source said policemen, including some officers, in these areas are having to hide their identity cards.
The CM has instructed cops to remain invisible from the roads and streets. This, according to her, said sources, would douse the anger of protesters. A senior police officer, on condition of anonymity, said Mehbooba even instructed the police to apologise to the Kashmiri youth for the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. “The CM’s appeasement policy has set the entire valley on fire. There’s no law and order, with everybody feeling insecure,” the officer said.
#Twist ‘Mehbooba asked cops to apologise for Burhan Wani’s killing’
