August 19: In the first major attack after the Srinagar car-bomb blast on August 10, Lashmar-e-Toiba militants shot dead six Hindus and a Muslim and seriously injured as many after dragging them out of their houses in Kot Dharra village of Rajouri district on Thursday night.The authorities clamped curfew in the district headquarters soon after the killings as a precautionary measure. But villagers defied the curfew to lay down the bodies of the victims in the middle of the road. One of the victims was a member of the Village Defence Committee (VDC).When Deputy Commissioner B.A. Runiyal rushed to Jawahar Nagar, his vehicle was intercepted by the villagers.The villagers alleged that CRPF personnel deployed did not retaliate even after hearing the gunshots. ``They remained mute spectators to the killing of our family members,'' said a villager from Kot Dharra.A mob also pelted stones to protest inadequate security arrangements. Apart from Runiyal, the Assistant Commissioner (Revenue) was injured in the pelting. The protesters also torched the vehicles of the two officials.Maj Gen Richard Khare, GOC Romeo Force along with Brigadier S. Jaswal of Thanamandi Brigade later reached the spot and tried to pacify the protestors. However, villagers refused to cremate the bodies until the administration issued orders for payment of ex-gratia relief to the next of kin of each of the deceased on the spot. They also demanded that they be issued gun licenses, that one member of each victim's family get a job and that a permanent army post be set up in the area.Tempers cooled down only after Mushtaq Lone, Minister of State for Home, arrived at the spot, accompanied by the Director General of Police, Gurbachan Jagat. Lone said the next of the kin of the deceased would be given jobs on the basis of vacancies in the Class IV grade. The DGP also assured villagers that they would be provided weapons to defend themselves in case of future attacks.Later, Lone also issued a bank draft of Rs one lakh as ex-gratia relief to the next of kin of the deceased. The villagers then lifted the bodies and cleared the road for traffic. The bodies are to be cremated Saturday morning.Meanwhile, the Lashkar-e-Toiba has issued a press release that it had nothing to do with the Rajouri killings, saying ``jehad does not allow the persecution of innocents.'' The pan-islamic group cautioned the Hindu and Sikh populations of the state against the ``nefarious'' designs of Indian agencies to plan the persecution of minorities in the state and then shift blame on the Lashkar. Personnel from Indian agencies were masquerading as Lashkar men in several villages across the state and perpetuating excesses on innocents, said the release.
