Kulgam crowd roughs up PDP MP, sets ablaze 2 vehicles of his cavalcade

◆Nazir Laway rescued by Police amid violent clashes as youth hit by rubber bullet

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
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SRINAGAR, Jul 11: While shouting pro-Pakistan, anti-PDP and anti-RSS slogans, a thick gathering of the separatists on Saturday torched two vehicles of the ruling PDP activists even as Police and security forces foiled their attempts to hold hostage PDP's Rajya Sabha member Nazir Ahmad Laway at Bogam village in Kulgam district of South Kashmir.

Eyewitnesses from the spot told STATE TIMES that Mr Laway had fixed a schedule of visiting some Higher Secondary Schools in his home district of Kulgam. He wanted to donate computers to some educational institutions out of Member Parliament's Local Area Development (MPLAD) Fund. As soon as he reached Higher Secondly School of Bogam after visiting two schools in Yaripora, hundreds of the angry residents resisted his entry, objected to his visit and made sustained attempts to hold him hostage.

The high spirited separatist crowd shouted slogans in favour of Pakistan as also against India, PDP and RSS.

Police and security forces in large numbers foiled the mob's attempts to take Mr Laway hostage. Amid a violent clash with the crowd, Laway and his associates were rescued by two Dy SPs and the local SHO with the help of SOG and CRPF.

During the clashes, a 17-year-old Class 11th student Nadeem Ahmad Dar was hit by a rubber bullet fired by Police or CRPF. He was evacuated to a hospital for treatment. Sources said at least six persons, including three Policemen sustained injuries. During the melee, the crowds set on fire a Bolero (JK02B-1829) and a Santro (JK22-4260) belonging to the PDP activists Mubarak Ahmad Koka of Kulgam and Tauseef Ahmed Dar of Tarigam. Both the vehicles suffered extensive damage.

DIG South Kashmir Nitish Kumar told STATE TIMES that Bogam village had a history of separatist activism and arson. Not a single vote had been polled in the village in last year's Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. "We foiled the mob's attempts and rescued the honourable MP successfully even as the crowd torched a vehicle", DIG said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Kulgam, Mumtaz Ahmad, added that the crowd held Chief Education Officer and some other officials of Education Department in wrongful confinement after the Police rescued Mr Laway. "Police swung into action and got the captives rescued", he said. He told STATE TIMES that the Police filed two FIRs against the miscreants and got four four if them arrested. "We have arrested their kingpin Mohammad Shafi Wani and four others", SSP Mumtaz said.

Mr Laway was not reachable on phone for his comment. However, PDP's authorised spokesperson Dr Mehboob Beg said: "I called Laway Sahab by phone immediately after I learned about the attack on his cavalcade. He maintained that it was an attack by supporters of the CPI(M) State Secretary and MLA Kulgam Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami. When I asked him why Mr Tarigami's followers would attack him, Laway Sahab said that the CPI (M) leader was labouring under envy and jealousy due to the PDP MP's activity and support among the public". Dr Beg said that the unruly crowd also torched a PDP worker's vehicle.

Asked for his reaction, Mr Tarigami told STATE TIMES that he or his workers were not instrumental behind the attack on PDP MP. "It's an open secret as to who did it. Everybody knows well. It's bullshit if PDP holds us responsible", Tarigami asserted. He pointed out that Bogam had witnessed total boycott to the Assembly elections.

Later, a CPI (M) spokesman elaborated that Bogam village stood predominantly under the influence of Jamaat-e-Islami and followers of Syed Ali Shah Geelani's faction of the Hurriyat Conference. He said that District chief of Geelani's organisation Mohammad Shafi Wani, JKLF Chairman Yasin Malik, Zamrooda Habib had frequently visited Bogam and set up their base there. "It has become some sort of a liberated zone. Police or forces or any mainstream politician doesn't dare to enter this village", he said, claiming that Mr Laway had been attacked by the separatists.

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