Kashmir Police asked to shift non-local labourers to police stations

Srinagar: Police in the Kashmir Valley were asked to bring non-local labourers and other workers to nearby police stations or other security establishments, after two more labours from Bihar were killed by militants, and another injured on Sunday.

A message was flashed to all police units in the Kashmir Valley by the SSP Police Control Room, Kashmir, on behalf of Inspector-General of Police Vijay Kumar late in the evening, asking for bringing the non-local labourers and other workers to nearby police stations or other security establishments.

The message read, “All non-local labourers in your respective jurisdictions be brought to nearest (J&K) Police/CAPF (Central Armed Police Force)/ Army establishments/ camps just now. Matter is most urgent.”

Earlier, two more Hindu seasonal labourers from Bihar were shot dead by unidentified assailants in Kashmir Valley on Sunday evening. A third was injured in the terror attack, the officials said.

The J&K police while blaming the latest attacks on separatist militants said that the victims Raja Reshi Dev, Jogindar Reshi Dev and Chun Chun Reshi Das were targeted in Kulgam's Laran Ganjipora.

While Raja and Joginder Reshi died on the spot, Chun Chun Reshi injured in the attack was rushed to the Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital in neighbouring Anantnag where his condition is stated to be stable. "He has received firearm injuries in the back and arm," medical superintendent, GMC, Anantnag, Dr Iqbal Sofi, was quoted as saying by local news agency GNS.

The security forces have laid siege to the area to capture the assailants dead or alive, the officials said.

On Saturday evening, street vendor Arbind Kumar Sah and carpenter Sagir Ahmed, residents of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, were shot dead in Srinagar's Idgah-Safa Kada'l area and Littar village of southern Pulwama district, respectively.

Earlier this month, seven civilians including a Kashmiri Pandit chemist Makhan Lal Bindroo,  vendor from Bihar Virender Kumar Paswan, cab driver Muhammad Shaffi Lone, school principal Supinder Kour, teacher Deepak Chand (also a Kashmiri Pandit) and two other residents Abdul Majid Guroo and Muhammad Shafi Dar lost their lives in a spate of targeted killings in and outside Srinagar.

The J&K police has blamed The Resistance Front (TRF) which it insists is "offshoot" of proscribed Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) organisation for most of the 32 targetted killings that have taken place in the Valley so far this year, and also many other terror activities in J&K.

On Saturday, Inspector General Vijay Kumar had claimed that at least five of those involved in these gory attacks are among the 13 militants eliminated by the security forces in the past one week.

J&K's Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, had earlier during the day vowed to hunt down the perpetrators as well as their sympathisers to bring them to justice. He said in his monthly radio programme 'Awaam ki Awaaz (the voice of people)', "I pay my heartfelt tributes to the martyr civilians and condolences to the bereaved families. We'll hunt down terrorists, their sympathisers and avenge every drop of innocent civilians' blood."

Paying tribute to nine Army personnel including two Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO) killed in the ongoing gunfight with militants in frontier Poonch-Rajouri region, Sinha urged the people to remember the security personnel who have laid down their lives in the line of duty.

He said, "When we light the Deepawali lamps next month, let's light one lamp in remembrance of the martyrs among the security forces who were prematurely snatched from us by the enemies of humanity."