Militants kill five labourers in Rajouri

The killings came at a time when the People8217;s Democratic Party PDP patron was pressing for withdrawal of troops from the Valley. The Centre, however, had said the withdrawal of troops was possible only after an assessment of the security situation.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, too, in a recent letter to the Mufti had referred to intelligence inputs about militant attempts to step up violence. He had assured to review the situation this summer. Giving details about the massacre, sources said a group of militants knocked at the door of one Mohd Hussain, son of Alam Din, in Panglar village, Kalakote, around 1 am and directed all the labourers, staying there, to come out and stand in a queue. As the labourers trooped out, the gunmen opened fire killing five on the spot. Three others were injured. Sources said, there is no security picket in 10 kms radius of Panglar, where the incident took place. The BSF, deployed in the area, moved out last year. All the eight were involved in the construction of a road in the area, said sources. They were from another village, Kurlian, in Kalakote. District administration at Rajouri received information of the incident after seven hours, following which Deputy Commissioner Pervez Ahmed Malik and SSP Rajouri Farooq Ahmed Khan rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to Jammu for treatment.

Meanwhile, Kalakote witnessed a shut down of business establishments and protests against the failure of the state government to ensure security to minorities. Raising anti-Mufti slogans, protesters demanded deployment of security forces in the minority segments.

The deceased were identified as Sanjay Kumar 21, Chaman Lal 32, Mohinder Kumar 28, Baldeve Kumar 38 and Rachpaul Singh 26. The injured have been identified as Subhash Chander 24, Babu Ram 33 and Raj Kumar 34.