Somewhere in Kashmir....

The Army on Saturday said it has intercepted a PoK-based Lashkar-e-Taiba spokesman’s conversation with a Kashmiri journalist asking him to plant a story about the hand of radical Hindu outfit behind a prominent moderate cleric’s assassination in Srinagar on Friday. A defence spokesman said Abdullah Gaznavi was asking the journalist to mislead people into believing that Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal triggered the blast that killed Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith chief Maulana Showkat Ahmad Shah. But LeT condemned Shah’s killing and blamed Hindu outfits. ‘‘It is the handiwork of the activists of right-wing parties, including Bajrang Dal and Abhinav Bharat. These elements have entered Kashmir. Indian forces and intelligence agencies perpetrated these acts,’’ a local news agency quoted Gaznavi. LeT chief Wahid Kashmiri too condemned the killing, saying it is an attempt to divide Kashmiris. J&K cleric Maulana Showkat Shah, who was killed in a blast near a mosque in Srinagar on Friday, was known for his outspoken views which were often at variance with other separatist groups. He had caused a stir when he dubbed last year’s stone-pelting unIslamic and urged his followers to keep away from such protests. In fact, his view had earned him the wrath of many hardline separatists in Kashmir. With Friday’s bomb attack being the first in Srinagar in more than two years, police have declared a red alert. “His killing is a great loss, and shows who the obstacles are to the path of peace in Kashmir. He wanted peace in the region,” said M M Ansari, one of the Kashmir interlocutors. This was not the first attempt on Shah’s life. In 2006, he survived a bullet attack, following which he was given police security. However, on Friday his security guards were unable to save him as he was targeted by an improvised explosive device. “It was a meticulously planned hit. They knew he entered the mosque from the rear lane and the IED was powerful enough to kill him but not cause massive collateral damage,” a source said. The moulvi was rushed to a nearby hospital but declared dead on arrival.