Jammu: Jammu city and adjoining areas besides parts of Kathua district Monday witnessed widespread protests against the killing of seven workers, including a doctor in a militant attack in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir the preceding day.
The attack took place on Sunday evening at a tunnel construction site on when militants opened fire at the workers. The incident has drawn widespread condemnation from political leaders across the country including Jammu.
Shiv Sena workers under the leadership of Jammu Kashmir Shiv Sena president Manish Sahni protested against the killings in the Indira Chowk of Jammu. The protesting Shiv Sainiks burned the effigy of Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif and flag of Pakistan and demanded strong military action on the alleged militant hideouts and launching pads across the border.
On the sidelines of the protest, Manish Sahni, the Shiv Sena president, said that the series of target killings in Jammu and Kashmir was not stopping. So far in the year 2024, seven incidents of target killing have taken place in which about two dozen innocent people have been killed.
On 7 February, two members of the Sikh community were targeted in Habba Kadal; on 8 April, a cab driver was killed; on 17 April, a laborer from Bihar was killed in Anantnag; on 18 May, a Jaipur couple was shot dead in Pahalgam; on June 10, ten pilgrims were killed in a militant attack on a bus of devotees of Mata Vaishnodevi in Reasi in Jammu; on 16 October, a youth from Bihar was shot in Shopian.
Sahni demanded strong military action and surgical strikes on the hideouts and launching pads of terrorists on the border of Pakistan, he said, “is running a factory of terrorism”.
Shiv Sena Dogra front workers, also held a protest in the Rani Park area of Jammu under the leadership of Shiv Sena Dogra front president Ashok Gupta and burned the effigy of Pakistani Prime Minister and raised anti-Pakistan slogans as well.
Gupta said that the militants attack on workers at a construction site in Kashmir was a “matter of concern as it depicts that they (militants) don't want development in Kashmir and they are against the progress of Kashmir”. He appealed to the government and security forces to start “operation all out” against militants.
Bajrang Dal activists led by state president Rakesh Bajrangi also burned down the Pakistani flag and appealed government to take strict action against Pakistani militant groups “for killing innocent people in Jammu Kashmir”.
On Sunday evening, the workers at a construction site had returned to their camp from the tunnel when unknown militants opened fire at them killing seven people including a doctor from central Kashmir's Budgam.
The workers were involved in the construction of a tunnel at Gagangeer on the Srinagar-Leh Highway, a project aimed at keeping the highway operational year-round. Two tunnels have been under construction for the past two years.
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