Locals join Hindu family for last rites

Even as Srinagar and other cities and towns in the Valley lay curfew-bound, residents came out to join a Hindu family in performing the last rites of an elderly member at Sheikh Mohalla (Maharaj Gunj in the heart of otherwise volatile central Srinagar.

The family of Deepak Malhotra, a businessman, is one of a few thousand Hindu families which chose to stay put when militancy broke out in the Valley in 1989-90.

On Saturday morning, Mr Malhotra’s aged mother passed away. When a neighbour got an announcement about it broadcast through a mosque loudspeaker, a large number of residents came to the bereaved family’s house defying the curfew, using alleyways where no security forces are usually deployed. They participated in the last rites of Mr Malhotra’s mother.

Meanwhile Jammu and Kashmir’s deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader, Dr Nirmal Singh, has denied claims made by some people that Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley and their properties, places of worship and also Amarnath pilgrims came under mob attack during the ongoing turbulence. He said no such incident took place in the Valley.

He told reporters in Jammu on Saturday, “We have, to some extent, controlled the situation (in the Valley). Fortunately, no attacks on the members of minority community or Yatra have taken place.”

Earlier, he held a meeting of the core group of BJP leaders to review the law-and-order situation in the state. Asked about reported attacks on petrol tankers and some other vehicles carrying supplies to the Valley from Jammu and other places, he said that some vehicles might have been caught in stone-pelting incidents.

He accused Pakistan of trying to “foment” terrorism exploiting the ongoing unrest, which started after the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani. He said, “threat perception from Pakistan still remains as it is trying hard to push terrorists from across the border. Pakistan and ISI are trying to foment terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.”