Srinagar: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said Kashmiri Muslims are ashamed over the killing of a Kashmiri Pandit and hit out at the government for claiming that normalcy has been restored in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sanjay Sharma (40), who worked as an ATM guard, was shot in the chest at point-blank range by terrorists barely 100 metres from his residence in the Achan area of Pulwama district at around 11 am on Sunday. He was rushed to a hospital by passersby but succumbed to the injuries.
“The government claims to have ended militancy. If that were the case, who killed him (Sharma)? What is the government doing?” Mufti asked while talking to reporters after visiting Sharma’s residence in Pulwama.
The former chief minister said Kashmiri Muslims are ashamed over Sharma’s killing.
“We are the same people who put everything at stake in 1947 to protect the Kashmiri Pandits, Hindus and Sikhs living in the valley when the subcontinent was reeling under communal riots,” she said.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief said Kashmiri Muslims are helpless today.
“Today, the Kashmiri Muslims are trapped. On one hand, there are government excesses and thousands of youngsters have been put in jails in the name of ending militancy. On the other hand, houses are sealed, NIA and ED raids are being carried out,” she said.
Mufti said Sharma has left behind a young widow and three kids. “The government should provide a job to his widow,” she said.
The Jammu and Kashmir unit chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Ravindra Raina, also visited the bereaved family to offer condolences.
“The killers of Sharma have put humanity to shame. This is a heinous crime, the killing of an innocent person. This is the height of injustice.
“A poor orphan who was living cordially with the people in this Pulwama village has been killed. The land of Kashmir has turned red again,” Raina said. (With inputs from PTI)
