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Journalism of Courage
Militants lobbed a grenade at a rally of the senior PDP leader and the former minister Ghulam Hassan Mir at Tangmarg, in Baramulla district, killing three and injuring Mir and 40 others. The area SHO, DSP and some constables were also injured.
The attack came a day after the militants carried out a suicide attack in Lal Chowk, while the security forces were still engaged in flushing them out from a hotel there. 8216;8216;The grenade was lobbed at the end of the rally and it was followed by the firing,8217;8217; said the Director General of Police Gopal Sharma. Al-Arifeen, a little known militant outfit claimed the responsibility for the attack.
Mir himself said the attack could have been anybody8217;s handiwork, but demanded a probe into the incident. 8216;8216;There is insurgency in Kashmir. Violence is part of life. You cannot say who did what,8217;8217; he said.
However in a recent letter to the government, Mir had insinuated that the recent killing of the PDP minister Ghulam Nabi Lone may not necessarily have been the handiwork of militants.
According to eye-witness reports, the grenade burst when Mir, after finishing his address in Sher-I-Kashmir Park, had boarded the vehicle and was about to drive away. It was SHO Muneer Ahmad who found the grenade lying close by the former minister8217;s vehicle and raised alarm, but it exploded right in the midst. DSP Shabir Nawab who stood close by was also injured.
8216;8216;It turned chaotic with people running helter-skelter, and the injured lying on the ground,8217;8217; said Shahid Masood, an eye-witness.
8216;8216;Soon after, police also started firing, which created panic. Some people were injured in police firing.8217;8217;
Mir received splinters in his back and leg and was soon rushed to hospital. The rally was politically ver significant, as Mir, a senior member of PDP led by the former chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, was denied a berth in the new J-K Cabinet, lead by the Chief Ministership of Ghulam Nabi Azad. Mir, who was a contender for the deputy chief ministership, had been sulking since.
He made several dissenting remarks against the functioning of PDP and had even indicated that the recent killing of PDP8217;s Ghulam Nabi Lone at his official residence could have been the work of government itself.
However, belying the expectations of the people, Mir today came out strongly in favour of PDP. 8216;8216;I am a loyal member of PDP and will continue to serve the party,8217;8217; he said in his address to a 4,000 strong audience.
