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Top PDP leader shot dead in J&K

Abdul Gani Dar shot dead hours after Mehbooba met Modi seeking dialogue with Hurriyat

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J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti addresses media after meeting PM Modi in New Delhi on Monday
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Hours after Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti batted for talks with separatists in her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, heavily-armed terrorists assassinated senior leader of her People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Abdul Gani Dar in Pulwama district of south Kashmir.

Dar, Pulwama district president of PDP, was shot at when he was travelling in his car on the Pinglina-Poho road. Police said terrorists waylaid his car near Pinglina and fired at him from point-blank range, injuring him grievously. Dar was immediately shifted to a hospital in Srinagar, where he succumbed.

“They stopped him in the middle of the road. The rest of things will be clear once the investigation is done,” Rayees Mohammad Bhat, Superintendent of Police, Pulwama, told DNA.

What added another dimension to the case was that Dar, an advocate by profession, was accompanied by his Personal Security Officer and a driver from the security wing of J&K police but they were not carrying any weapons.

“He was accompanied by one PSO and a driver from the security wing. They might not have been carrying weapons. We are investigating every aspect of the case,” said Bhat.

Mehbooba, in her meeting with PM Modi earlier in the day, had strongly advocated talks with Hurriyat leadership on the lines of Vajpayee regime.

Dar had unsuccessfully contested the 2008 assembly election from Rajpora constituency. However, before 2014 assembly polls, he joined PDP and rose to the post of district president of the party.

A few years back, Dar had escaped a bid on his life when terrorists tried to storm his house in a bid to assassinate him at Rahmoo village of Pulwama district. However, his security guards opened fire, killing two terrorists. This time, however, luck ran out and he was killed by the ultras. 

Police sources said the terrorists probably knew his travel plans and might have been chasing him. 

A close associate of PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Dar was regarded as one of the most respected leaders of the party in south Kashmir. 

“It is a huge personal and emotional loss for me and the party. He has been like a family for us. Mufti Sahab knew him from Congress days. He joined PDP in 2014 and has been one of the finest leaders in Pulwama,” said Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, president of youth wing of PDP.

Condemning the killing in the strongest terms, main opposition party National Conference (NC) said Dar’s assassination was yet another reflection of the alarming state of affairs in the state. 

“While Mufti goes around begging from office to office in New Delhi to save her government, lives are being lost in Kashmir and alienation is at an all-time high. She should introspect and resign without any further delay,” said Junaid Azim Mattu, NC spokesperson.

Fourth killing in last eight days

Assassination of Dar is the fourth killing in the last eight days in Kashmir. Terrorists had earlier killed PDP worker Bashir Ahmad Dar, 46, and injured his cousin Altaf Ahmad in Qasabayar village in Pulwama on April 15. A day later they killed Imtiyaz Ahmad Khan, an advocate by profession and close relative of National Conference leader in Shopian district. On the same day they entered the house of Rashid Billa, a former government militia man, and shot him dead in Bandipora district.

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