Targeted, BJP moves its men to ‘safe’ hotels

Aiming to neutralise the terror threat looming over its workers in Kashmir, the BJP has shifted its activists to hotels at Pahalgam where they will be provided round-the-clock security.

Over the past one month, the party has lost five of its workers in militant attacks. Budgam district president Abdul Hamid Najar succumbed to injuries today, a day after he was targeted.

Ashok Koul, BJP general secretary (organisation) in Kashmir, said at least 70 workers had been shifted to hotels due to security reasons. He said the activists were from Anantnag.

Koul, who oversaw the arrangements at Pahalgam, attributed the select killings of BJP workers to “frustration in some quarters that had been unable to do anything worthwhile in the Valley”.

Pahalgam is a famous tourist destination rich in forests and rivers, drawing domestic as well as international tourists.

The BJP has increased its activities in Kashmir in recent years, particularly after PM Narendra Modi assumed charge at the Centre in 2014. The party contested a significant number of seats in the 2014 Assembly poll in erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir, but could not secure even a single seat.

Meanwhile, the BJP national leadership, particularly president JP Nadda, has taken a serious note of the targeted killings of party workers in the Valley. He has brought it to the notice of the Union Home Ministry and sought effective steps to check the menace.

BJP leader succumbs to bullet injuries

BJP leader Abdul Hamid Najar (38), who was critically injured in a militant attack at Budgam on Sunday, succumbed to his injuries on Monday morning. “Najar was under treatment at a Srinagar hospital where he succumbed to his bullet injuries this morning,” an official said. inside