* Two militants killed in Awantipora
Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, May 31: A teacher was shot dead by militants at Gopalpora area of Kulgam district this morning evoking widespread condemnations and protests by the employees.
Militants fired at a female teacher from a close range outside the High School Gopalpora Kulgam, leaving her severely wounded.
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She was immediately shifted to district hospital Kulgam where doctors declared her as brought dead. The teacher was shot in her head and has been identified as 36-year-old Rajni Bala, a teacher by profession from Badheri area of Samba district of Jammu region.
She was recruited under the Schedule Caste (SC) quota five-years ago. She along with her husband, Raj Kumar Atri, were posted in Gopalpora area of Kulgam and were living in a rented accommodation in Chawalgaam area of the same district.
Immediately after the attack, security officials including police, CRPF, and the army rushed to the area to take stock of the situation.
The security forces personnel cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to track down the militants responsible for the attack.
This is the seventh targeted killing in Kashmir in the month. While three of the victims were off-duty policemen, four were civilians who include a Kashmiri Pandit employee, a woman artist and a wine shop employee.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha condemned the killing of the teacher and said that the assailants will be given an “unforgettable response.”
“Terrorist attack on a school teacher Rajni Bala is the most reprehensible act. My deepest condolences to the bereaved family. Terrorists and their sympathisers will be given unforgettable response for dastardly attack,” the Jammu and Kashmir LG tweeted.
As the news about the attack spread, there were protests at several places across Kashmir against the killing.
Kashmiri Pandit migrant employees threatened mass migration from the Valley within 24 hours if Government fails to relocate them outside Kashmir.
Scores of Kashmiri Pandit migrant employees came out on National Highway outside BB Cantt and blocked it for several hours shortly after killing of the teacher.
The protestors vowed to leave en-mass if the Government does not relocate them to safer places within 24 hours. “We have decided that if the Government does not take a definite decision in the next 24 hours, we will migrate en masse from the Valley including from Transit camps in Baramulla, Vessu and Sheikhpora”, a protesting Kashmiri Pandit told reporters in Srinagar.
Rajesh, a protesting employee said that Government failed to take care of their people and threatened mass migration.
“The protest started with the killing of Rahul Bhat and while it was on, another woman has been killed. The administration has been saying that the security will be taken care of, but they seem to be clueless. It is not only Kashmiri Pandits, but the Kashmiri Muslims are also being killed. Why isn’t the Government able to take care of their people? We will do the mass migration. The Government better be happy with the tourism”, he said.
“In our memorandam, we sought the same thing: that we be temporarily relocated to safer locations until the situation returns to normal,” said another employee.
While referring to the statement of Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar that the Valley will be militancy free in the next two to three years, he said: “We demand that we be relocated until the situation becomes normal or conducive to our survival.”
He also revealed that just 1,250 Kashmiri Pandits have been housed in transit camps, while the remaining 4,000 live in rented accommodations, making it nearly impossible to provide safety and security to all of them.
The protests were also held at Vessu Qazigund in Anantnag district, Budgam and Ganderbal districts.
Meanwhile, a group of ST and SC employees from Jammu working in Government offices across the Valley protested at Polo View against the killing of their colleague. They demanded protection or relocated to Jammu.
“We have come to express our sympathies to the slain teacher. We also want the Government to shift us to Jammu since the situation here makes it impossible for us to stay,” a protestor said.
A candle light protest was also held in Kulgam district this evening. The employees from various public offices in Kulgam including traders association and civil society members staged a candle light march against the killing. The protest march was held from main market Kulgam to Ghanta Ghar Kulgam.
Meanwhile, two militants of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed in a gun battle in Rajpora village of Awantipora area in Pulwama district today.
Acting on a specific input about the presence of militants in the village, security forces launched a search operation in the area.
As the security forces intensified searches, the hiding militants fired upon the search party, which was retaliated, triggering an encounter. During exchange of fire, two local militants affiliated with JeM and LeT were killed.
A police spokesman identified the militants as Shahid Ahmad Rather son of Ghulam Ahmad Rather, resident of Larow Jageer, Tral and Umar Yousuf son of Mohammad Yousef, resident of Tukro Keegam Shopian of LeT.
As per police records, both the militants were part of groups involved in several cases of militancy including attacks on police, security forces and civilians. Shahid, as per records, was involved in killing of a lady Shakeela of Aripal and a government employee Javaid Ahmad of Lurgam Tral. “He was also involved in motivating, recruiting local youth to join militant ranks and on his motivation Muhammad Shafi Dar of Wagad Tral had joined militant ranks who was later neutralized in an anti-militancy operation in Kulgam on 29/12/21,” the police records revealed.
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