Terrorists shot dead a senior Apni Party member outside his residence at Devsar in south Kashmir’s Kulgam on Thursday, making him the fourth political functionary to be killed in J&K since last week after a husband-wife panchayat duo and a constituency in-charge of BJP.
The terror attack that claimed Ghulam Hassan Lone’s life – and the three other political killings that preceded it – appeared to trigger at least one fear-induced resignation by a BJP constituency in-charge from Noorabad in the same district. Mubarak Ahmad Bhat quit both his post and primary BJP membership with a statement that had a familiar ring to it.
“I hereby resign from the party. I request people to forgive me, if my actions have hurt them in the past. I have small kids, I have no concern for or affiliation to any political party, especially BJP,” he said, echoing what several others from various parties had cited while resigning in the wake of a wave of similar political killings in the Valley last year.
The BJP has claimed that 23 of its workers and leaders have been killed by militants in Kashmir in the last two years, reported NDTV.
Several political leaders condemned Lone’s killing on Thursday.
Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party leader Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari called the incident “barbaric” and expressed anguish over the killing of political workers.
Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti said there seems to be no end to the political killings in Kashmir and offered her condolences to Lone’s family.
The incident has sent shock waves among mainstream political workers in Kashmir who have been trying to emerge from political marginalisation following the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status two years ago.
In the last six months, there has been a spurt in attacks on political workers in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP, which has very little influence in Kashmir, has been the major target of these attacks.
Mainstream political parties in Kashmir have been the victims of terror attacks over the last 30 years. Thousands of political workers, mostly from the National Conference, have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir.