On 31st October, 2019, when state of Jammu Kashmir was officially bifurcated into union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, it changed more than just names. All laws which stated that they were applicable to all of India except state of Jammu and Kashmir were repealed and central laws will now be applicable there. Ranbir Penal Code was abolished and Indian Penal Code was put in place. Along with that, Radio Kashmir has also been renamed to All India Radio.
The Radio Kashmir Jammu and Radio Kashmir Srinagar stations merged with All India Radio but their names were kept unchanged as it helped countering Pakistani propaganda from Muzaffarabad and Tralkhad. As the radio station changed name, ANI news agency editor and journalist Smita Prakash tweeted about Lassa Kaul, an employee with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, who was gunned down by JKLF (Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front) separatists outside his house in February 1990.
A day to remember Ministry of Information and Broadcasting employee Lassa Kaul, gunned down by militants in front of his house in 1990. He ignored threats not broadcast Indian programmes, and leave Srinagar. Died in the line of duty. Naman. https://t.co/ZFB5a4sty1
— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) October 31, 2019
At about 7:15 PM on 13th February 1990, 45-year old Kaul, director with Doordarshan Kashmir, was visiting his ailing parents. As he stepped out of his vehicle, he was gunned down by terrorists. JKLF terrorists, who were critical of news station’s separatist violence, had threatened Kaul.
In a series of tweets shard by journalist Rahul Pandita earlier this year, he recounted the horror of Kaul’s murder by hands of JKLF terrorists led by Bitta Karate.
In peak of militancy, Kaul left his wife and daughter at a relative’s place in Ghaziabad. His son was at BITS, Pilani. After Kaul died, two of his DD colleagues were sent to Ghaziabad to bring his family to Delhi airport from where they’d be taken in a BSF plane to Srinagar +
— Rahul Pandita (@rahulpandita) April 4, 2019
He said that Lassa Kaul had left his wife and daughter at a relative’s place in Ghaziabad during the peak of militancy in Kashmir. After he was killed, two of his colleagues came looking for them to take them to Srinagar. They had no address.
The SP heard them. But, finding two people in Ghaziabad? Ultimately the SP deputed scores of policemen to keep a lookout for cries of mourning coming from any house. This is how Kaul’s family was located +
— Rahul Pandita (@rahulpandita) April 4, 2019
Kaul’s family was located when the policemen were out listening for cries of mourning coming from any home. There were rumours that some of his colleagues were involved in the murder. That he never realised that his own men would turn against him. It is believed that the information of his whereabouts was passed on to the militants by the moles. The CBI had created a file on his murder but that file is now lost.
Kaul was the only child of his parents to have survived among his seven siblings. Lassa in Kashmiri stands for ‘Be blessed or to have a long life. Unfortunately, his life was cut short too soon.
