On Thursday, suspected terrorists killed three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Kulgam district of South Kashmir. Fida Hussain Itoo, the district general secretary of the party’s youth wing (Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha), Umer Rashid Beigh, a district executive member of the unit, and Umer Hajam, another member of the organization were recognised to be dead. The attack took place at village YK Pora in Kulgam in the evening.
BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur condemned the attack and said that this is a killing of innocent people and that all three of them were at the same place when they were killed. J&K BJP tweeted that the party strongly condemns this barbaric attack and those involved will not be spared. Former CMs, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, both condemned the attack.
Prime Minister Modi tweeted that he condemned the killing of 3 of their young Karyakartas. They were bright youngsters doing an excellent job in the valley. His thoughts are with their families.
The Resistance Front (TRF) has claimed responsibility for the brutal act. It is believed to be a shadow group of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
This is not the first time when workers of the ruling party were shot dead. Many such identical incidents have happened in the recent past too. A couple of months back, BJP leader Wasim Bari, his brother Umar Bashir and father Bashir Ahmed were all shot outside their shop in Bandipora. The police suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed behind the attack.
Such brutish acts are high since the statehood of the erstwhile state of J&K was denied and its special status was snatched. These are not mere acts of crime but, rather they signal that a portion of the J&K is so disapproving of the ruling party that came even on the verge of killing someone just to show their displeasure of the government’s acts.