Around 20 Kashmiri panchayat members resigned on Sunday, a day after suspected terrorists shot at and critically wounded a 45-year-old woman panch at Hardshiva near north Kashmir’s Sopore town.
Zoona Begum was shot in her neck and was battling for life at a Srinagar hospital in the second such attack since sarpanch Habibullah Mir was shot dead in neighboring Bomai village on Friday. No militant outfit has claimed responsibility yet. The panchayat members, from Hardshiva and adjoining villages in Baramulla district, resigned in the presence of journalists in Srinagar. “We fear for our lives,’’ said Manzoor Ahmad Rather, a sarpanch. He said attacks on panchayat members and the government’s failure to secure them made them quit.
Six panchayat members have been killed in targeted attacks since rural local bodies polls were held after decades in 2011. The state government says personal rivalry may be behind some killings as panchayat members had often sought security.
Habibullah Mir was the member of All Jammu & Kashmir Panchayat Conference’s 32-member executive body formed after attacks on panchs last year. He attended the sarpanches’ conference in Jammu to push for security. AJKPC chairman Shafiq Mir described the attacks as “as total failure of the state government, especially CM Omar Abdullah and panchayati raj minister Ali Mohammad Sagar”. He sought their resignations. “We are being openly threatened by the most dreaded terror organization and have been urging the state government to take precautionary measures,” he said. “It is very shameful that panchayat members have been killed, but the CM tries to play it down saying militants may not be behind all these killings.’’
Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahudin had in November threatened panchayat members. AJKPC general secretary Anil Sharma said, “We have repeatedly requested state panchayati raj minister, Union home minister, DGP and others to provide us security.”
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