Ruckus in Assembly over Udhampur incident 

○ Govt sending 4 family members of injured truckers to Delhi

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, Oct 10: Before the brief autumn session of the State Assembly ended with a bad note on Saturday, opposition National Conference members created a pandemonium over last night's attack in which miscreants have torched a truck and left its Kashmiri driver and conductor injured.

Led by MLA Abdul Majid Bhat Larmi, NC's members at tge beginning of the Question Hour expressed concern over the midnight attack on the Kashmiri truckers and demanded stern and immediate action and arrest of the people involved in the incident. The injured truckers are residents of Uranhal and Botengo villages, both in Larmi's constituency of Homeshalibug in Kulgam district.

Minister of Horticulture Abdul Rehman Veeri, who replies on behalf of Minister incharge Home Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, responded to the uproar and informed the House that the Police had quickly rescued the two injured persons, Showkat Ahmad and Zahid Ahmad. Another driver Rameez Ahmad escaped unhurt.

Veeri said the two injured were rushed to hospital in Udhampur and later driven to Jammu for specialized treatment. He said three of the accused persons, identified as Bala Bahadur Singh, Sunder Singh and Sunil Singh, were arrested and manhunt was launched to arrest five others of the accused.

Veeri said that DGP had flown to Udhampur and a matter of attempted murder had been registered in FIR No 368 under sections 307, 336, 437, 147, 148, 120B and 427 RPC.

Not satisfied with the Minister's statement, opposition walked out in protest. NC's Ali Mohammad Sagar said the Mufti government had no courage to admit that the accused were from the coalition partner BJP. He alleged that BJP was provoking Kashmir and vitiating the atmosphere by resorting to communal tactics. Independent MLA Engineer Rashid termed the accused in the case as terrorists and insisted the state government had no will to proceed against them.

Later, an official release said that IT experts had also examined the CCTV footage which established involvement of the arrested persons. Security has been enhanced along National Highway and in Udhampur town.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Anantnag Muneer-ul-Islam, who is currently also officiating as DC Kulgam, told STATE TIMES that both the injured truckers had been airlifted to Delhi and admitted in Safdar Jung Hospital. He said that the District administration acquired and handed over four air tickets to two each members of the victims' families who would be ferried to Srinagar on Sunday morning to catch Srinagar-Delhi flight of Go Air at 7.30 a.m. 

He said that he also provided Rs 20,000 to the four passengers in addition to Rs 50,000 for each injured from the Red Cross fund. Besides, Government had also made all arrangements of transportation and boarding and lodging in 3 reserved rooms of J&K House as long as their presence in New Delhi was necessary to look after the injured at the hospital.

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