Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Friday condemned the “cowardly, barbaric” killing of its two party functionaries Mushtaq Ahmad Wani and Nazir Ahmad Bhat in the Habba kadal locality of Srinagar and demanded high level probe into i.
In a statement, party President Dr. Farooq Abdullah denounced the act as heinous and despicable. Expressing his grief over the incident Dr Farooq said, “People who have committed this dastardly act have no humanity. I empathize with the bereaved families and hope they overcome this trauma that has shattered their lives forever.” The NC President prayed for peace to the departed souls.
Farooq expressed anguish and said that the party had already decided not to participate in the ongoing ULB and Panchayat polls and that such attack on NC workers must be thoroughly probed. “We demand high level, time bound, impartial probe into the incident. The guilty must not be spared,” he said.
Farooq said in this hour of grief party stands with the kith and kin of the deceased. “We have lost many of our functionaries since the onset of militancy, the life and history of national conference is replete with many such sacrifices,” he said adding, “The word sacrifice is synonymous with National Conference, and we won’t deter from the path that we had embarked upon in 1931.”
Party vice president Omar Abdullah while condemning the brutal attack said, “I am shocked beyond words; it is an act of terrorism and a ploy to stifle our voice.”
Omar said that the appalling security situation has gone out of the hands of governor’s administration. “The incumbent administration had already removed security from some of our functionaries, all this needs to be unearthed and brought before people. There seems to be some sort of a design into the killings of our party men today and its upto the investigating agencies to identify the killers and bring them to justice. The killings are taking place in broad day light and that too in an urban heart. We expect that the governor moves its men and machinery to ensure justice is done swiftly.”
“Situation is becoming appalling day by day and that the administration is vacillating and perplexed about the situation,” he said.
Praying for the speedy recovery of Shakeel Ahmad Zangoo, another party functionary who got injured in the attack, Omar said, “I pray for his early and complete recovery.”
He also visited Police Control Room Srinagar where the bodies of Mushtaq Ahmad Wani and Nazir Ahmad Bhat were kept and expressed sympathies with the bereaved families there. He was accompanied by party General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar, Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani, North Zone President Mohammad Akbar Lone and Political Advisor to VP Tanvir Sadiq.
Women’s Wing President Shameema Firdous was hospitalized after the killing of her two party colleagues. “She went into a trauma immediately after hearing about the killing of her two close party associates and was hospitalized. She is stable now,” reads the statement. Later Omar Abdullah along with other party leaders visited the hospital to enquire about her health.
Meanwhile National Conference has clarified that the assassinated NC workers had no involvement in the ongoing ULB polls. “All reports attributing to them as candidates in the ongoing ULB polls are false and are being circulated with a malicious intent,” party spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said.
