A day after three Bharatiya Janata Party workers were killed in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, the police has said terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was behind the murders. According to a news report in The Tribune, Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar confirmed this and also appealed to the protected persons in the valley not to move around without their security details.

Late on Thursday evening, three BJP workers identified as Fida Hussain Itoo, Umer Hajam and Umer Rashid Beigh, were shot dead by militants in the Y K  Pora area of Kulgam district in south Kashmir. Fida Hussain Itoo was a BJYM district general secretary, Umer Rashid Beigh was the BJYM district executive member, and Umer Hajam was a party worker, stated reports.

J&K BJP strongly condemned this barbaric terror attack on BJP Leaders Fida Hussain Itoo (BJYM District Gen Secy Kulgam), Umer Rashid Beigh (BJYM District Executive Member Kulgam), Umer Hanan (BJYM District Gen Secy Kulgam), those who are responsible for this will not be spared. pic.twitter.com/tdRbE2BW0t

— BJP Jammu & Kashmir (@BJP4JnK) October 29, 2020

According to media reports the terror group The Resistance Front (TRF), which is said to be a shadow group of LeT, claimed responsibility for the killings. The news report adds that police have seized a vehicle used in the attack, the IGP told a news agency that such killings were being executed at the behest of Pakistan. “Three militants came in a local car belonging to a local militant identified as Altaf. Fida (Hussain) was with his two colleagues in a car and the militants fired indiscriminately on them from close range. They received grave injuries and succumbed on the way to the hospital,” the IGP told the media. According to the senior cop, the militants fled towards Achbal area, from where the car was seized this morning.

The IGP shared names LeT militants who are suspected to be behind the killings, they are: Nisar Khanday; and one Abbas from Khudwani who was once associated with Hizbul Mujahideen, now with LeT and TRF. According to the office there may be a third minitant, a ‘foreign terrorist’ involved as well.

According to the report, the slaim BJP worker Hussain was one of the 1,619 vulnerable persons who were lodged in secure locations before the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked on August 5 2019, “We had kept Fida (Hussain) in a hotel in Pahalgam where he stayed for three weeks. Recently, he gave an undertaking and left the hotel. We are investigating what they were doing in a car in an area far away from home,” he said. The IGP said it was possible  that they were killed in a pre-planned attack.

These killings are yet another in the list of attacks on BJP politician-activists, and other local  leaders. According to the IGP this was part of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, “Recently, mediapersons also received threats through ‘Kashmir Fight’, an online medium which is run in Pakistan, or the TRF website. They claimed the attack yesterday on ‘Kashmir Fight’ as well. This is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and this proves that these killings take place on the orders from Pakistan,” he told the media and asked all ‘protected persons’ of the region to to follow the standard operating procedures (SOP) laid down by the security agencies,  and not to move without their security details. “We have provided PSOs and security to 157 BJP workers, nearly 30 have been provided with guards and we will provide more security to those who have severe threat perception,” said the top cop.

The Prime Minister led his party in condemning the killings and hailed the three slain workers as “bright youngsters doing excellent work in J&K.”

I condemn the killing of 3 of our young Karyakartas. They were bright youngsters doing excellent work in J&K. My thoughts are with their families in this time of grief. May their souls rest in peace. https://t.co/uSfsUP3n3W

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 29, 2020

जम्मू-कश्मीर के कुलगाम मे कायराना हमले में आतंकवादियों ने ज़िला भाजपा युवा मोर्चा के महासचिव फिदा हुसैन समेत 3 नेताओं की हत्या कर दी। ऐसे राष्ट्रभक्तों का जाना देश के लिये बड़ी क्षति है। पूरा समाज पीड़ित परिवारो के साथ है। ये बलिदान व्यर्थ नहीं जाएँगे। परिवारों के प्रति संवेदना।

— Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) October 30, 2020

These killings come after the murder in August, of Abdul Hamid Najar, Budgam district president of the BJP’s OBC Morcha. Najar was shot at while he was out on a morning walk near the railway station in Budgam. The 38-year-old was shifted to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital in Srinagar after the attack, reported the Hindustan Times, where he succumbed to his injuries

Abdul Hamid Najar is the third BJP leader from the Valley to be targeted in the  past week. This attack too was followed by resignations from several local BJP leaders, the Indian Express reported. Just a few days before this, on August 6 Sarpanch Sajad Ahmad Khanday was shot dead by militants, near his home in Kulgam’s Qazigund area. He was the party’s district vice president for Kulgam.

The IE reports that according to police the Khanday too, was attacked after he left his secure accommodation to visit his home. Similarly, Sheikh Waseem Bari, his father and brothers were attacked when they were allegedly left unguarded despite having a massive security detail. And Ajay Pandita Bharti, did not even have a security cover he had been asking for, when he was killed. That time, at least four BJP leaders – general secretary of the party’s Bandipore unit Avtar Krishan, district president of Budgam Imran Ahmad Parray, constituency president Wali Mohammad Bhat, and Budgam district office secretary Sameer Ahmad Shah – had  announced their resignation from the BJP.  Local politicians who have been targeted so far by militants include: 

• August 10: Abdul Hamid Najar, shot, critically injured
• August 6:  Sarpanch Sajad Ahmad Khanday, shot dead
• August 4: Arif Ahmad, shot, critically injured
• July 8: Sheikh Waseem Bari, his father and brother, shot dead
• June 8: Sarpanch Ajay Pandita Bharti, shot dead

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