J&K Apni Party Worker Killed By Terrorists; 4th Such Incident In 10 Days

A worker of the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party was shot dead by terrorists this evening in the fourth such incident in 10 days.

Ghulam Hassan Lone was killed in south Kashmir's Devsar by unidentified terrorists who barged into his home this evening, the police said.

J&K Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari condemned the killing.

This is the first time a worker of the Apni party has been killed by terrorists since the party's foundation in March 2020 - seven months after the centre scrapped Jammu and Kashmir's special status. The party was launched with tacit support from the Centre to create an alternate political structure in Kashmir and replace the traditional regional mainstream parties. Its chief Altaf Bukhari is a former leader of Mehbooba Mufti's People's Democratic Party.

While the party failed to make a mark on the political landscape, its presence forced traditional regional parties to participate in local elections. While regional parties outrightly rejected the Centre's decision to abrogate Article 370 on August 5 2019, their participation in local elections was seen as an approval of the new political order the newly formed Union Territory.

The incident has sent shock waves among mainstream political workers in Kashmir who have been trying to emerge from political marginalisation following the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status two years ago.

In the last six months, there has been a spurt in attacks on political workers in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP, which has very little influence in Kashmir, has been the major target of these attacks.

23 BJP workers and leaders have been killed by terrorists in Kashmir in the last two years, the party has claimed.

Mainstream political parties in Kashmir have been the victims of terror attacks over the last 30 years. Thousands of political workers, mostly from the National Conference, have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir.