Soon after the Government lifted the security lockdown in Kashmir the Pakistani terrorists have begun targetting migrant workers in the Valley. In one such incident, an apple trader from Punjab named Charanjeet Singh was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the Shopian district on Wednesday. Sanjeev Singh, who was accompanying Charanjeet, was critically injured in the attack. This incident in third such in as many days in the Valley.
In another incident, a brick kiln worker from Chhattisgarh, Sethi Kumar Sagar, met similar destiny as terrorists shot him in the Pulwama region in Jammu and Kashmir the same day.
The week began with the gruesome murder of an innocent truck driver Sharief Khan.
Today a poor labourer from Chhattisgarh, Sethi Kumar Sagar was brutally murdered by terrorists in South Kashmir.
I would love to see a protest march against his killers in Lal Chowk. Please. pic.twitter.com/S0ZGNu1IBz
— Danish Manzoor | ದಾನಿಷ್ (@TellDM) October 16, 2019
These killing came two days after terrorists shot dead a truck driver from Rajasthan and assaulted an orchard owner in Shirmal village in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir. The truck, bearing a Rajasthan registration number, was set ablaze on its way to Jammu. The body was recovered from the truck. There are reports which confirm that the assailant was a Pakistani National.
A police officer in south Kashmir said the killings were part of a strategy by terrorists to strike at the heart of the business since many traders had refused to be cowed down by the terrorists’ order not to open businesses.
In August, terrorists had shot and killed a 65-year-old shopkeeper for defying their diktat and keeping his shop open. On September 7, 3 fruit traders and a toddler were shot by terrorists in Sopore.
Pakistan has been desperately trying to create unrest in the Valley ever since India has gone ahead with its decision to repeal Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. In fact, Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan, who has been running pillar to post trying to sell his rhetorics on Kashmir, had admitted at the UN that there will be a “bloodbath” in Kashmir once India lifts the communication lockdown, and another Pulwama too.
Meanwhile, MoS PMO Jitendra Singh while speaking to Times Now questioned the Lutyens lobby’s silence on these incidents and how peace is being targetted in the Valley by the neighbouring country. “Where is the outrage now”? “where are the protagonists of Human Rights now”?, asked Singh speaking about the lobby’s selective condemnation of Human Rights. He goes on to say that it is the selective intellectualism in the name of Kashmir which has actually done the maximum harm.
Jitendra Singh condemned the unfortunate incidents wherein migrant workers were targetted which he said was “triggered by those who do not wish peace to settle down in Jammu and Kashmir for the simple reason that they have been beneficiaries of mayhem over the last few decades, which unfortunately also includes a section of a particular political class who have benefitted in carrying on their hegemony just with about 10 per cent voter turnout”, said Singh.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah had strongly opposed the government’s move and had been detained under the Public Safety Act as a preventive measure as it was expected that the activities of Mehbooba Mufti were likely to cause serious law and order situation and breach of peace of tranquillity of the state.
After 72 days of communication networks being snapped, postpaid mobile phone services were restored across all networks in the Kashmir Valley on October 14, Monday. Fixed-line telephone services were restored in parts of Jammu and Kashmir on August 17, and by September 4, nearly all 50,000 landline connections were restored. Mobile phone services had already been restored in Jammu and Ladakh regions, and in the Kupwara district of Kashmir.
