by Tasavur Mushtaq
SRINAGAR: A day after the killing of BJP leader, his father and brother in north Kashmir’s Bandipora, on Thursday the Muslimabad village of the area witnessed the three funerals of a single-family.
The slain identified as Sheikh Waseem Bari,38, Sheikh Umar Bari 30 and Sheikh Bashir Bari, 60 were killed instantly the moment they were attacked.
A district president for Bandipora, Waseem was a core member and state executive member of the right-wing party. Before joining the BJP in 2014, a commerce graduate, he was associated with National Conference.
The funeral was attended by senior BJP leadership of the Union Territory. Party president along with senior BJP leaders rushed to Kashmir to participate in the funeral procession. While speaking to Media, party president, Ravinder Raina said, “Pakistan is killing innocent Kashmiris and they are the biggest enemies of humanity. It was an act of sheer cowardice carried out of frustration by Pakistan, but our security forces will take the revenge and will never allow anti-national forces to succeed their nefarious intensions.”
Quoted by a news agency, Raina has said “he (Waseem) was a real tiger of Bharat Mata. He kept the tricolour high. We condemn this cowardly act of Pakistan-sponsored terrorists.”
Waseem is survived by his wife, two children, three-year-old girl and a three-month-old child, and his sister. The last rites of the slain were performed at his home and then were buried in an Auqaf graveyard in Bandipora.
Attackers Identified
Police on Thursday claimed that the fatal attack on Waseem was carried out by two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants. Taking to media, Kashmir Police chief Vijay Kumar said both the militants have been identified. One is local and other is said to be from Pakistan.
One of the militants who carried out the attack on BJP leader and his family has been caught on camera. Identified as Abid, a local militant, he was seen in a CCTV footage captured at Bandipora police station at 8.40 pm on Wednesday. The other one is said to be a militant from Pakistan.
“We have checked the CCTV footage in the presence of army and CRPF officers. Two terrorists of Lashkar-e-Toiba have carried out the attack. One is local who has been identified as Abid and another is a Pakistani terrorist. One fired at the trio from close range with a pistol while the other one was guiding him,” he said, adding that “the trio sustained head injuries and succumbed on the way to the hospital. We will track both the terrorists soon and eliminate them.”
IGP Kumar said the attack was pre-planned. He said Bari had gone to visit his in laws and had returned to his home along with all PSOs. “After entering his house, his PSOs had gone to their room and Bari went to his shop where his father and brother were also present,” he said.
After the assault, the security personnel of slain Waseem were put under suspension and are likely to be “dismissed”.
Protest in Jammu
In Jammu, activists of BJP held a protest against the killings. The protest was led by district president Munish Khajuria, where the activists showed their resentment against Pakistan and the killings and demanded a thorough probe into the matter to find culprits behind the killings
Khajuria is quoted to have said that “a young leader and two of his family members sacrificed themselves for their nation and their brutal killings by anti-national elements is another example of cowardness by Pakistan and its sponsored terrorist outfits.”
He appealed to the J&K government to convene a high-level probe into the matter and said that “despite many security personnel allotted to the leader why there was a security lapse.”
