Indian Home Minister Holds Emergency Meeting After Two Teachers Killed in Kashmir
12:26 GMT 07.10.2021 (Updated: 14:40 GMT 06.08.2022)
© AP Photo / STRVillagers watch a burnt car which run over and killed farmers on Sunday, at Tikonia village in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh state, India, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021
© AP Photo / STR
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The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in India has witnessed ongoing separatist violence, with civilians being targeted by terror groups. On Wednesday an uproar was witnessed after a well-known Srinagar chemist, ML Bindroo, hailing from the minority Kashmiri Pandit community, was killed. He was shot at point blank range at his workplace.
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah summoned an emergency meeting of the security agencies to take stock of the situation in Kashmir on Thursday, hours after two teachers were shot dead by terrorists in the morning.
The security review comes in the wake of a spree of civilian killings, seven in the past 10 days. The killings have come at a time when around 70 federal ministers are on a nine-week outreach programme in Jammu and Kashmir.
The federal government's security review meeting was chaired by Home Minister Shah and attended by national security advisor Ajit Doval.
Director General of the Border Security Force Pankaj Kumar, Intelligence Bureau Chief Arvind Kumar, as well as Research and Analysis Wing head Samant Kumar Goel also participated in the meeting that focused on countering increasing terror attacks.
On Thursday, police officials said that unknown gunmen had barged into a state government-run school in the Iddgah Sangam area, in the old city, and fired from a point blank range at two teachers. Both died on the spot.
The victims, both of whom belonged to minority communities, were identified as Satinder Kaur, principal of the school and Deepak Chand, a local resident. Chand, a Kashmiri Pandit had reportedly recently shifted back to Kashmir from Jammu where his family had migrated in the 1990s when militancy broke out.
Chand is the second Kashmiri Pandit to have been killed in two days by terrorists in Kashmir. On Wednesday, M.L. Bindroo, a well-known chemist, whose family was among the few Kashmiri Pandits who refused to leave Kashmir despite a looming threat over the past four decades, was gunned down, at point blank range, at his clinic on Srinagar street.
Mehbooba Mufti, the former chief of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, and the head of Peoples Democratic Party, expressed concern over the worsening situation in Kashmir.
Disturbing to see the deteriorating situation in Kashmir where a minuscule minority is the latest target. GOI’s claims of building a Naya Kashmir has actually turned it into a hellhole. It’s sole interest is to use Kashmir as a milch cow for its electoral interests. https://t.co/B4LhFUA3ag
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) October 7, 2021
What has become a matter of concern is that the radical Islamists are once again systematically targeting minority communities, said Director General of Police Dilbag Singh after visiting the terror attack site.
"This is an attempt to defame local Muslims of Kashmir. Killing innocent civilians, including teachers, is a move to attack and damage the age-old tradition of communal harmony and brotherhood in Kashmir,"he added.
The Resistance Front, a militant organisation floated after the federal government ended Jammu and Kashmir's special status, had claimed responsibility for the attacks against civilians earlier this week.
J&K Police sources have now confirmed that all teachers of the school were lined up in Srinagar. ID Cards and Mobiles phones were checked. All were interrogated by terrorists. Most teachers were let go. Presumably Muslims. Hindu and Sikh teacher were killed. pic.twitter.com/UjtBonU0up
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) October 7, 2021
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has condemned the killing of the two teachers, saying that "a befitting reply will be given" to those responsible for the "heinous terror attacks on innocent people".
The terrorists & their patrons will not succeed in disturbing peace, progress & prosperity of J&K UT. My deepest condolences to the bereaved family, friends and colleagues.
— Office of LG J&K (@OfficeOfLGJandK) October 7, 2021