Senior BJP leader and Jammu and Kashmir’s deputy chief minister Dr Nirmal Singh on Monday strongly condemned the killing of a Muslim trucker by a group of Hindu activists in the state’s Udhampur distr
Senior BJP leader and Jammu and Kashmir’s deputy chief minister Dr Nirmal Singh on Monday strongly condemned the killing of a Muslim trucker by a group of Hindu activists in the state’s Udhampur district. Meanwhile, the state Cabinet, which met in Srinagar, assured the investigation into the incident will be fast-tracked “so that those found guilty of this heinous crime are not allowed to go unpunished under any circumstance”.
“I condemn it. It is unfortunate that he is not amongst us. My sympathies with the family,” Mr Singh said while speaking to reporters here. He made a passionate appeal to people to maintain peace and communal harmony.
Zahid Rasool Butt, a helper with a Valley-bound truck, and its conductor Showkat Ahmed Dar were critically injured when the assailants set them on fire after sprinkling petrol on their clothes on the night of October 9. Butt died in Delhi’s Safdarjang Hospital on Sunday. A shutdown was observed in Kashmir Valley and parts of Jammu region of the state on Monday to mourn and protest Butt’s murder.
Mr Singh had earlier termed the call issued by Kashmiri separatists and trade and transport unions for the one-day strike on Monday as “an attempt by certain elements to vitiate atmosphere” and asked them to think on it.
Reacting to it, former chief minister and working president of the Opposition National Conference, Omar Abdullah, wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.com “How about condemning the murder, condoling the death & then presuming to lecture us about elements who vitiate”. In another tweet, Mr Abdullah said, “(chief minister) Mufti blames “politics of hate” for #Zahid’s death. Earlier it was “enemies of peace”. Why can’t the man call a spade a spade ”
The state Cabinet, which met here on Monday with the chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, unanimously adopted a resolution “to express deep shock and grief over the tragic death of Butt”.
The resolution was moved by Mr Sayeed and the Cabinet.
The Cabinet also approved ex-gratia relief of Rs 500,000 and Rs 300,000 and government jobs in favour of the next kin of Butt and Dar, who is undergoing treatment in the Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, respectively. “Appreciating the people for maintaining calm, the Cabinet assured that the investigation will be fast-tracked so that those found guilty of this heinous crime are not allowed to go unpunished under any circumstance”, an official handout issued here said.
It added, “Asserting that the constituency of peace will be further strengthened, the Cabinet vowed to defeat the conspiracy hatched by certain people to subvert the Agenda of Peace and Reconciliation of the Coalition government”.
