Srinagar: Unidentified militants shot dead a Kashmiri Pandit Sarpanch in Anantnag district of south Kashmir on Monday evening, a police spokesman said.
“Ajay Pandit, Sarpanch of the Larkipora area in Anantnag district and a member of the Congress party, was shot at by militants in his native village (Dooru) at around 6 pm,” said the spokesman.
Pandit was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to injuries.
No militant outfit has claimed the responsibility for the killing so far. A police officer said that the area has been cordoned off and searches have been launched to nab the attackers.
Meanwhile, several political parties have condemned the civilian killing.
While expressing his grief over the murder, president of J&K unit of Indian National Congress, G A Mir tweeted: “The loss of Shri Ajay Bharti (Sarpanch) will be felt by all of us in the Congress Party. My thoughts and prayers are with his family in their time of grief. May his soul rest in peace.”
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Jitendra Singh on Monday condoled the killing and said it is a “desperate attempt” by anti-national elements to defeat the process of grassroots democracy in the Union Territory.
“It is a desperate attempt by anti-national elements to defeat the process of grassroots democracy, which is sought to be established in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.
National Conference Vice President, Omar Abdullah while condemning the killing tweeted: “Very sorry to hear about the killing of sarpanch Ajay Pandita in Anantnag this afternoon. I unequivocally condemn this terror attack on a grassroots political worker & pray that his soul rests in peace.”
PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti (who runs her mother’s twitter handle), tweeted: “Terrible news. Condolences to the family. Shrinking political space in Kashmir has made political party workers all the more vulnerable. They are stuck between punitive actions of a vindictive government & militants on the other end.”
Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari termed the killing as a dastardly act by the elements inimical to peace and prosperity of J&K. “Violence in any of its manifestations begets violence and this vicious cycle needs an end so that the people of J&K who have suffered a lot in the last many decades live in peace and harmony,” Bukhari said in a statement issued today.
Bukhari urged the government to go for a thorough review of security of all Panchayat representatives and other political workers in J&K.
