India News Online » News Analysis » Indian Politics » 

Kashmir : Grenade attack kills six outside mosque

	November 13, 2006

Terrorists struck again in Kashmir last week when six persons, including four girls, were killed and over 50 injured when they hurled a grenade outside a mosque in Pulwama on Friday, Nov. 10.



The incident took place when people were going to the mosque along with cleric Maulvi Abdul Rashid Dawoodi. Belonging to the Brelvi School of Thought, he had been especially invited to deliver a sermon.



Dawoodi, the head of the Saut-ul-Aulia (the Voice of the Saints) has emerged as a controversial religious figure in the valley over the past few years because of his thrust on the teachings of Sufis. He had been attacked twice earlier in his home town of Anantnag.



There was a bandh in protest against the grenade attack. In a remarkable development, a day after the attack, residents handed over Ghulam Nabi Mir, who allegedly threw the grenade, to the Rashtriya Rifles Unit based in Pulwama on Saturday, Nov. 11.



There was tension in the air as Pulwama observed a bandh to protest the attack targeting a cleric.Presented before the media by 55 Rashtriya Rifles Sector Commander, Brigadier G.S. Katoch, the suspect said he hurled the grenade at the instance of a Hizb-ul-Mujahideen ‘commander’ Gulzar Mir for Rs. 1,000.



Brigadier Katoch said the locals had assisted the Army in “fighting terror.” “Their [militants] target is obviously the one who talks about peace.” In the case of civilian killings, militants always denied their hand, he added, in a reference to the Hizb’s denial of its involvement in the attack.



From dawn people started marching towards Tahab, about 10 km from Pulwama, to register their protest against the incident. Many came from neighbouring Anantnag, home district of the cleric.



“We captured the grenade thrower. The Army came during the night and cordoned off the village and asked us to hand him over. We had no option,” said Abdur Rehman, a villager. “We wanted to punish him ourselves.”



Police and paramilitary forces were deployed in strength to prevent sectarian clashes. Since Maulvi Dawoodi belonged to the Barelvi sect, the administration was wary of trouble as a majority in the area were Jamaat-e-Islami (another school of thought) sympathisers.



Political leaders, including Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Shah, National Front chairman Naeem Khan and Shia leader Agha Hassan visited the village to extended their sympathies to the bereaved families.





Custodial deaths to be brought down



State Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that his Government will last its full term in office and is committed to bring down the number of custodial deaths and disappearances to zero. He was speaking to media persons in Jammu on the first day of reopening of Government offices after the Darbar move on Monday, Nov. 6.



Azad said that Justice Sagir Ahmed has been appointed the head of the working group on Centre-State relations. He takes the place of Justice A.M. Ahmedi who declined the offer to head the group. A meeting of the working group would be held later this month. This would be followed by the third round table conference of all parties under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.





Mirwaiz Farooq re-elected Hurriyat chairman



Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has been re-elected chairman of the Hurriyat Conference for the next two years. He was unanimously elected at a meeting of the general council and the working committee of the moderate faction of the party in Srinagar on Nov. 7. Senior Hurriyat leader Abdul Ghani Bhat said later a team of party leaders would be meeting Pakistan Foreign Secretary in New Delhi this week. Several separatist groups and leaders in Kashmir have been invited by the Pakistan High Commission for a meeting in New Delhi on Nov. 14. They include the chairman of the hardline Hurriyat faction, Syed Ali shah Geelani, JKLF chairman Mohd. Yasin Malik and Democratic Freedom Party leader Shabir Ahmed Shah.





More colleges to be set up in J & K



The Centre has sanctioned the setting up of ten more degree colleges and five ITIs in Jammu and Kashmir as part of the relief steps after the earthquake in the state. At a review meeting in New Delhi, which was attended by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed that education deserved more attention and resources.



In another move, the Jammu and Kashmir Government in a break from tradition, has opted for a January to December financial year against April to March in the rest of the country. The budget session of the state legislature will be held in January next year.



Parliament attack convict files mercy petition



Parliament attack convict Mohd. Afzal Guru who had earlier refused to file a mercy petition, has finally submitted the clemency plea to the Tihar Jail authorities. It was forwarded by them to the Union Home Ministry on Nov. 9.



A release from the Society for the Protection of Detainees’ and Prisoners’ Rights quoted Afzal as saying that he did not file a petition earlier “not out of any arrogance or ill-will” but because he had “no hope of getting justice.” However, he was deeply moved when the President received his family members and that kindled a new hope that he might still get justice.



He reportedly stated that he did not express remorse or ask for forgiveness because “I cannot ask for forgiveness for something I have not done.”



“I do not think that the attack on Parliament served the cause of the Kashmiri people and I am genuinely sorry for the family members of those who died doing their duty. I feel no personal enmity towards the nine people killed or the 16 other injured. It is, unfortunately, the poor and vulnerable who suffer”, the release quoted Afzal’s petition as saying.



Mohd. Afzal accused Pakistan of using Indian youth as “pawns” for its politics. He said, “I joined the movement and went across to Pakistan. However, I was greatly disillusioned by the fact that both India and Pakistan were using the Kashmiri youth as pawns in their respective politics.