Protest outside Hurriyat office in Srinagar against killing of Kashmiri Pandit

Protesters brought down the office name board of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajbagh to mark their protest against the recent killing of a Kashmiri Pandit in the Shopian district of South Kashmir.

Srinagar: A group of people, including social activists, staged a protest outside the Hurriyat Conference office here on Monday against the killing of Kashmiri Pandit farmer Puran Krishan Bhat by terrorists last week, officials said.

The protesters assembled outside the office of the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Hurriyat at Rajbagh here and held a protest. They held the Hurriyat responsible for the bloodshed in Kashmir Valley. The protesters daubed “India” on the main gate of the Hurriyat’s central building and brought down the signboard of the separatist amalgam, the officials said.

The gate was locked. The protesters included social activists, municipal corporators and Kashmiri Pandits, the officials added. One of the protestors said the Hurriyat office will be closed down soon and an orphanage will be run from the building. Another protestor, a Kashmiri Pandit, said the people of Kashmir have realised that they want peace and not bloodshed.

Bhat was gunned down by terrorists on Saturday outside his ancestral house in the Chowdhary Gund area of south Kashmir’ Shopian district, where he had gone to look after his orchards. Bhat was cremated in Jammu on Sunday. Candlelight marches were held on Sunday evening across the valley against the killing.