Srinagar: Ruling National Conference members on Wednesday took out a protest march against the Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 people dead.
NC workers and leaders, including MLAs and Nasir Aslam Wani, advisor to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, assembled at the party office at Nawa-i-Subah here and marched to the Lal Chowk City centre.
The chief minister’s two sons — Zahir and Zamir — also participated in the march. The protestors, carrying placards that read “stop innocent killings”, “united in grief” and “violence will never win”, raised slogans against the killings, demanding exemplary punishment for the perpetrators.
Speaking to reporters, Wani said this is not a protest, but a mourning.
“The way innocent people were killed yesterday is not acceptable to humanity. The people of Kashmir do not accept it, we do not support terrorism,” Wani said.
The CM’s advisor said the whole Kashmiri society stands together against the act. “This is terrorism and we have come out against it,” he added.
The protestors reached the famous Clock Tower at Lal Chowk and held a sit-in there. A group of tourists from Pune also joined the NC protest.
“We want to say that the people of Kashmir, the Muslims, the Hindus, the Sikhs and the Christians are all here together. All of them are with the tourists and guests,” one of the tourists, Dhananjay Jadhav, told PTI.
He appealed to the tourists not to panic.
“The taxi drivers, politicians, workers, everyone is with the tourists. Kashmir is good. When we come here, there will be prosperity, the condition (of the people) here should improve. Everything is fine, but they (tourists) should not panic,” he said.
Asked if there was fear among the visitors, Jhadav said it was natural that what happened on Tuesday would cause fear, but all their apprehensions have been allayed. “We do not feel any fear here,” he added.
Terrorists struck a prime tourist location in Pahalgam in south Kashmir on Tuesday, killing at least 26 people, mostly tourists from other states.
