IGP Kashmir assures safe shelters for 'soft' targets Sarpanches and Panchs

"Sarpanches and Panchs who are facing threats from militants are being provided safe accommodation in Srinagar and other district headquarters," Vijay Kumar said.

Srinagar:Inspector General of Police, Vijay Kumar on Saturday, said that Sarpanchs and Panchs in Kashmir who are facing threats from militants are being provided "safe accommodations".

The IGP Kashmir speaking to the media on the sidelines of a function at Tagore Hall in Srinagar said, “Since they (Panchs and Sarpanches) are soft targets, militants find it easy to attack them," he said. The IGP's comment comes on the heels of the killing of two Sarpanches in Kashmir in as many days.

On Friday, a Sarpanch was killed in south Kashmir's Kulgam. The killing came a day after another Sarpanch was shot dead in the Khonmoh area on Srinagar outskirts. "Sarpanches and Panchs who are facing threats from militants are being provided safe accommodation in Srinagar and other district headquarters," the IGP Kashmir said.
As per IGP, the Sarpanch killed in Kulgam yesterday was provided space in Srinagar "but he had travelled to south Kashmir without informing the police".

Kumar also briefed about the three gunfights that broke out in Pulwama, Kupwara, and Ganderbal districts and ended with the killing of four militants, two each affiliated to Jaish and LeT outfits.

He also claimed that "nowadays one foreign militant is accompanying at least two local militants and on the directions from across, they are trying to misuse religious places to trigger law and order situation".