Irate people protest, block Highway
Avtar Bhat
SAMBA, June 1: Hundreds of mourners gave a tearful adieu to martyr Rajni Bala, a Government school teacher who was killed by militants in Gopalpora village in Kulgam district of South Kashmir yesterday, at her village Nanke Chak near here today.
Slogans of “Rajni Bala Amar Rahe, Amar Rahe” rent the air as her husband, Raj Kumar, lit the pyre and a sea of mourners bid a tearful farewell to her.
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At her home in Nanke Chak village, Bala’s parents and in-laws were inconsolable. The family members were seen sobbing and beating their chests as Rajni Bala was taken to last journey.
The heart rendering scenes were witnessed on the second day today in the Nanke Chak village as words fell short to console the Sana Atri, a 13 year daughter of Rajni Bala, and her husband Raj Kumar for whom May 31 turned out to be a doom’s day as the enemies of humanity snatched the loving mother to a daughter and caring wife to a husband.
The tempers of mourners including the Jammu based teachers posted in Kashmir also ran high and they shouted slogans against the barbaric killing demanding immediate transfer of all Hindu employees from Valley.
To register their strong protest against this inhuman and barbaric act of prophets of doom, the hundreds of mourners including Valley posted teachers from Jammu blocked one tube of National Highway at Samba for half an hour in the morning.
They, while shouting slogans, demanded immediate termination of CEO Kulgam whom they held responsible for the killing and harassment of the couple.
The protestors also shouted anti-BJP slogans as its J&K UT president, Ravinder Raina reached Nanke Chak along with MP Jugal Kishroe Sharma, party general secretary, Dr D K Manyal and the mob protested before them also. The irate mob asked BJP leaders that they should not give hollow assurances as Government has failed to act and stop selective killings in the Valley. They reiterated the demand of bringing all Hindu employees back to Jammu and posting them here.
However, Raina later talking to reporters while strongly condemned this dastardly act said Pakistan was responsible for militant activities in J&K and security forces and police are doing a commendable job to fight terrorism and the selective killings is the result of desperation of the militants and their over ground sympathisers.
Raina, who also attended Bala’s last rites, said her death would be avenged by ensuring the burial of her killers.
The BJP leaders expressed their total sympathy with bereaved family and assured all help from the Government.
Raj Kumar, also a Government school teacher, said in view of the targeted killings of Hindus in the Valley, he and his wife had repeatedly requested the administration to transfer her to a safer area.
He said his wife’s transfer orders came on Monday night. Tuesday was supposed to be Bala’s last day at the school in Gopalpora, he added.
“I had given an application to the Chief Education Officer of Kulgam. We told him that the school is not safe for my wife but he did nothing,” Kumar alleged.
As nothing happened despite having submitted multiple applications to the CEO, he said, he and his wife met the Director of School Education in Srinagar on Monday.
“We requested him to post us in the same school and gave him its name. Both of us were transferred to that school on Monday night,” Kumar said.
“Had the administration transferred her to a safer place earlier, she might have been alive today. Just a day after her transfer order came, she was killed by militants,” he told reporters.
He said his wife was shot dead minutes after he dropped her at her school.
“I dropped her at her school and went back to my school. Later, I was informed that my wife was shot at and she died on the spot,” he said.
Kumar said Hindus are soft targets in Kashmir and the administration should relocate all of them to safer places.
Those who joined Bala’s final journey also demanded protection for Hindu employees serving in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.
Villagers demanded that a school in Nanke Chak be named after Bala.
“We demand that the school in the village be named after Rajni Bala and the transfer policy be reviewed to transfer Hindus out of Kashmir. Kashmir is not a safe place for Hindu employees,” said a villager Narinder Kumar.
Besides, her husband, Bala is survived by her 13-year-old daughter.
ADGP Jammu Mukesh Singh, Divisional Commissioner, Ramesh Kumar, DIG Jammu-Kathua Range, Vivek Gupta, DC Samba, Anuradha Gupta and other senior police and civil officers, besides the local BJP leaders including former Ministers, S S Salathia and CP Ganga also attended the last rites of martyr.
Bala’s murder was also the seventh targeted killing in Kashmir in May. While three of the victims were off-duty policemen and four were civilians.
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