Sarpanch in Jammu and Kashmir Pays With His Life for Embracing Politics

Shopian: Five-year-old Fiza, a physically-challenged child has no idea that her father, who feeds her every evening, has died. She, along with four siblings and her mother, have been left behind by Mohammad Sultan Bhat, a sarpanch (village head), who was shot dead by suspected militants outside his home in Jammu and Kashmir. A sixth child is on the way, but will never get to see his/her father.  

"He would feed this child because she doesn't accept feeding from anybody other than him. She doesn't know he has been killed," says Mohammad Akram, a relative.
Mr Bhat, the sarpanch of Nazneenpora in the Valley's militancy-infested Shopian district, was returning from election campaigning when suspected militants stopped the car he was travelling in and pumped his body with a dozen bullets on Sunday evening.

For Mr Bhat's family, the cycle of tragedy seems to be endless. In September, their home along with an apple orchard on a plot of land, were ravaged by floods.

"First, floods took away everything - now he's given his life also," said Mohammad Iqbal, a relative.

Mr Bhat had recently resigned from National Conference and was campaigning for an independent candidate.

The attack, the second on a sarpanch or his family in south Kashmir in the last two weeks, seems to be aimed at undermining the election process. The incident has sent shock waves amongst the locals, just ahead of second phase of polling in the state.

18 constituencies in five districts of the state will go to polls tomorrow.
 
For political parties, elections may be about capturing power, but a sarpanch in a remote village in the Valley has had to pay a price with his life for embracing politics.