Thousands of security forces are keeping a vigil across J&K to prevent protests. (Representational image)
Four people, including a two-year-old girl, were injured after terrorists attacked house of a fruit trader in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore district, for defying their warnings to shut shop to protest centre's move to end special status to the state under Article 370, police said. The incident is seen as an attempt by terrorists to instil fear among the people and disrupt peace in the Valley.
Police said that the terrorists barged into Hamidullah Rather's house at Dangerpura in the north Kashmir district as they were upset that he ran his business despite warnings. The injured have been shifted to the hospital and their condition is stated to be stable, police said.
But the condition of the two-year-old girl remains critical, news agency ANI reported.
Srinagar District Magistrate Shahid Choudhary said efforts are being made to arrange an air ambulance to shift the 2-year-old girl to Delhi for advance medical treatment.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has asked authorities to bring the girl to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, ANI reported.
"In a merciless act of terrorism, terrorists fired and injured four persons including a baby girl, Usma Jan, at Dangerpora village of Sopore," a police spokesman said.
According to intelligence officials, Pakistan is trying to push terrorists into the Kashmir Valley to disrupt peace in the Valley. Terrorists have also resorted to civilian killings and threats to instil fear among the people, they said. Last month, two terrorists with links to Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba were caught near the Line of Control in Boniyar sector of Baramulla district.
They were planning to push in groups of terrorists to "disrupt peace and launch attacks in Kashmir," said the Army.
"Separatists were expecting a violent public outrage against the abrogation of Article 370 and the complete integration of the state with the rest of the country. They also believed that their would be civilian casualties in clashes with the security forces.
"Nothing like that happened although there has been a general strike in the valley since August 5. Despite all the preventive measures taken by us to ensure that public life and property are protected, the credit for ensuring peace goes to the common man in Kashmir who has refused to play into the hands of the separatists", a top intelligence officer was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.
Thousands of security forces are keeping a vigil across Jammu and Kashmir, with extra forces posted in the Valley over the past month to prevent any protests or clashes over the centre's decision to end special status to the state and split it into two union territories.