A non-local driver was shot at in south Kashmir’s Shopian yesterday evening, reports said.
Quoting police officials, a Kashmir based news agency reported that terrorists fired upon a non-local driver,injuring him critically in Shopian.
The driver has been identified as Paramjit Singh, a resident of Delhi.
The official said that Singh was immediately taken to a nearby hospital where he was referred to a tertiary care in Srinagar for advanced treatment.
The area has been cordoned off and searches are on to nab the attackers, said the official.
A dangerous trend has emerged on the terrorism graph of Kashmir this year, keeping the security agencies on their toes. There have been more targeted attacks on civilians and off-duty policemen compared to planned attacks, as was the trend in the past, on the security forces or their establishments in Kashmir in 2022.
Targeted killings against Kashmiri Pandits and minorities in the Kashmir Valley have been on the rise. The death of Kashmiri Pandit Sanjay Sharma and Bank guard in Pulwama in 2023 was the latest in a series of attacks against the minority community. These attacks have increased fear in the community and raised concerns about the lack of security. Sharma’s killing was the second such incident against Kashmiri Pandits in Pulwama, the first being Janki Nath’s death in 1990 at the peak of terrorism. Sharma’s attacker was killed in a follow-up operation. However, this has done little to allay the fears of the community. All the major political parties in the Valley have condemned the attacks.
In 2022, terrorist attacks left 29 civilians dead, including three local Pandits, three other Hindus and eight non-local labourers in Jammu and Kashmir. The unrest led to 5,500 Pandit employees moving out from the Valley. Since 2022, India has witnessed 315 incidents involving violent murders. Of these, Jammu and Kashmir account for 160 incidents followed by the Maoist insurgency which was responsible for 126 incidents.
Also Read: Chaitra Navratri 2024: Know date, rituals, Ashtami, Ram Navami time
