India News | J&K: BJP Protests Against Killing of Party Leader

Jammu, Jul 9 (PTI) Workers of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP and its youth wing BJYM on Thursday held protests against the killing of party leader Sheikh Wasim Bari, his father and brother in a terrorist attack in Bandipora district of north Kashmir.

Blaming Pakistan for spreading terror in the Valley, the protesters raised slogans against the country and burnt its flags at several places across the union territory even as a BJP leader demanded a probe into the security lapse.

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Led by Yudhvir Sethi, J&K BJP vice president, party workers assembled near City Chowk area of Jammu city and demanding that terrorists involved in the killings be eliminated.

“The anti-national forces are hell bent to ruin the peace in Kashmir Valley which has seen a new phase of development since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken the reins of the Central government. Such gruesome acts are meant to scare the people of Kashmir Valley, who are now extending support to the policies and programmes of the BJP at the Centre,” Sethi said.

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Terrorists are trying to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere and are targeting political leaders who have become soft targets as they are working extensively in far off and interior places, Sethi said.

BJP leader Sheikh Waseem Bari, his father Bashir Ahmed and brother Umar Bashir were injured when militants opened fire on them outside Bari's shop near police station Bandipora at around 9 pm on Wednesday. They were rushed to the district hospital where they succumbed to injuries.

Sethi said terror perpetrators are not the well-wishers of Kashmiris as they are not able to digest the abrogation of Article 370 and resignation of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani from the Hurriyat Conference who he blamed for pushing the Valley into terror and violence.

“Pakistan is trying all the tricks up its sleeves to ensure that normalcy does not return to Kashmir and instead there is a revolt and bloodbath on the streets. But PM Modi-led government is determined to defeat Pakistan's nefarious designs and usher an era of peace, prosperity, progress and development in Kashmir,” Sethi said.

The protests were held by BJP district units in Samba, Udhampur, Kathua and Reasi in Jammu. The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) too held a protest in Jammu.

BJP leader Munish Khajuria said the brutal killings by anti-national elements is another example of cowardness of Pakistan and its sponsored terrorist outfits.

This terrorist act will not suppress nationalist voices in the valley and the rising popularity of a nationalist party like the BJP among the people of the Valley, he said.

Khajuria further appealed to the J&K administration to convene a high-level probe into the matter and said that despite many security personnel allotted to the leader why was there a security lapse.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)