Jammu: National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Thursday described his narrow escape from an assassination attempt as an act of divine intervention, while raising serious questions over the “total absence” of police deployment at a high-profile wedding where the incident took place.
“I am fine and God has saved me,” Abdullah told PTI on Thursday morning.
The assailant, identified as 63-year-old Kamal Singh Jamwal, reportedly told investigators he had been waiting two decades for an opportunity to kill Abdullah as he had a “personal motive”
“I do not know that man, nor has anyone ever told me anything about him. As for what his motive was… how would I know what it could have been?” he told reporters at his residence.
Recounting the moments of the attack, Abdullah said he was about to step out of the wedding pavilion after the bride arrived when he heard what he initially thought was the sound of firecrackers.
“When the bride arrived, after that we took permission from them and we started leaving for home. I had just stepped out of the wedding pavilion (mandap) and was walking when I heard a sound like a firecracker. I thought someone must have burst a firecracker, because people often burst them at weddings,” he said.
Abdullah, however, said he had later felt a burning sensation but did not realise at the time that it was a gunshot.
“Then I felt a kind of burning sensation, but at that moment I did not realise what had happened. In the meantime, they (security personnel) quickly pushed me into a car, and when they were seated, they told me, ‘Sir, it was actually a pistol.’ They said that the person had fired two shots at me,” Abdullah said.
Asked about a possible security lapse, Abdullah said that it would be premature to make such claims, but said that many prominent people were present at the function, and adequate police arrangements should have been in place.
“It seems like there might have been a security lapse somewhere, but calling it a security lapse is a very big statement. The question is that many prominent people were present at this wedding, so the police should have taken proper precautions. But there was a total absence of police arrangement,” he said.
Despite being a Z+ category protectee, Abdullah highlighted a glaring lack of basic security protocols at the venue.
He said the biggest issue is that there was no police presence at all. “Not for me alone, but many prominent people had come to that wedding. It was necessary to have protection at such an event, especially in the kind of environment we are living in today, where such elements exist. Precaution is necessary,” Abdullah said.
