J-K elections: Terror victim seeks ‘justice’ in Rajouri, but no echoes of it in poll campaign

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had visited the village and met the families of the victims, including Bala. She said Union Home Minister Amit Shah too had spoken to her and assured a thorough probe. He was also scheduled to visit the village to meet the families but could not due to inclement weather conditions.

Angry at all politicians, Bala talks about staging a protest at the polling booth come election day. The Rajouri Assembly constituency, under which Dangri falls, votes in the second phase on September 25. The 60-year-old widow, who was left childless by the attack, held a dharna last year too in protest against the “delay” in tracking down the accused.

With the local police not able to make much headway, the Central government had handed over the probe to the NIA, which eventually filed a chargesheet against five militants, including three based in Pakistan. The agency also arrested two residents of Poonch and a juvenile, who it claimed had provided logistical support to the militants. Poonch is some 90 km from Rajouri.

Bala questions these findings of the NIA. “I know who hushed up my case and who all were involved. They were killed by local people. It was not done by outsiders. Why should I say they came from Pakistan, Delhi or Poonch?… Unka kya lena dena mere bachchon se (What issue would they have had with my children)?” she says.

Pointing out that security agencies initially said that the militants involved were still hiding in the forest areas of Rajouri and were getting logistical support from some people, Bala adds: “So they knew some local people were behind the attack. I firmly believe it is not the handiwork of militants but some locals who knew all of those killed very well… There are so many houses nearby, why did they target my family alone?”

Bala also points to the encounters in Rajouri over the past year and claims these have been used by security forces to give them false hope. “I was told that the militants who were killed in Budhal were behind the attack in Dangri… Some say some militants killed elsewhere were behind the attack on my home.”

Since 2021, areas south of the Pir Panjal range, including Poonch, Rajouri and Jammu, have seen a surge in high-intensity terror targeting security forces and civilians. While there were three attacks each in the Jammu region against security forces in 2022 and 2023, six attacks had been recorded by July this year.

Tired of waiting for almost two years, Bala adds that if politicians want their votes now, they “should come to us… listen to us”. “Convince me that they will take my case to a logical conclusion,” she says, adding that she might bring along the entire village to protest at the polling booth.

However, while election fever is slowly gripping the village, with BJP workers seen distributing flags to shopkeepers and odd National Conference (NC) flags around, the Dangri attack does not figure prominently in the campaign.

The Rajouri contest is multi-cornered, including the BJP’s Vibod Kumar Gupta, the Congress’s Iftkar Ahmed and the PDP’s Tasadiq Hussain.

The BJP campaign revolves around the Centre’s measures extending tribal reservation to Paharis, and introducing ST-reserved seats in J&K. The NC is focused on its promise of restoration of Article 370 and 35 A.

In 2014, the last time Assembly elections were held in J&K, the PDP had won the Rajouri seat, defeating the BJP by a narrow margin of 2,490 votes.