Close shave for J&K minister

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 21

A senior Jammu and Kashmir minister escaped unhurt in a grenade attack that left two civilians dead and 30 others, including policemen, injured in south Kashmir’s Tral town today.

Minister for Public Works and senior PDP leader Naeem Akhter survived the attack on his convoy in the heart of Tral, 35 km from here, as he was leaving in a bullet-proof vehicle after inaugurating a bridge.

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“We were travelling through the (Tral) bazaar when militants hurled a grenade. I heard a loud sound and saw the vehicle behind us getting hit,” Akhter told The Tribune.

“I had inaugurated a bridge at Chindigam village and was travelling to another event when we came under attack,” the minister said. The injured included two policemen and seven CRPF personnel.

This is the first time in recent years that a  minister has been targeted by militants. The attack in the separatist stronghold triggered panic in the area. The attack comes as the ruling party attempts to re-exert influence in its erstwhile stronghold of south Kashmir districts. Members of the ruling party, including ministers, have been touring the south Kashmir districts in recent weeks, ending a long pause in political and development activity in the region amid unabated protests for almost a year.

The slain civilians were identified as Ghulam Nabi Trag and Pinky Kaur, both residents of Tral sub-district. The injured were in a stable condition, while 16 injured civilians had been discharged after first aid.

A senior engineer in the Roads and Buildings Department, who was accompanying the minister in another vehicle, was among the injured. Kashmir IG Munir Khan said the police were trying to establish the identity of the militants involved.

Sikh village sinks into mourning

An all-Sikh village of Chattergam in south Kashmir’s Tral sub-district drowned into mourning on Thursday when the body of 22-year-old Ramandeep Kaur, lovingly called Pinky, reached home. Pinky was the youngest among the four daughters of bank employee Ichpal Singh and was a second semester MBA student at Islamic University of Science and Technology. She had left home for “some last-minute shopping” ahead of her Friday paper. Her brother had died in an accident several years ago.