A contractor was shot by unknown gunmen in the volatile south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, officials said on Sunday. He later succumbed to his injuries.
Reports said a group of gunmen fired upon Ghulam Nabi Mir, son of Sana-ul-llah Mir of Tral Payeen, leaving him critically injured.
Reports and witnesses said he was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, however, he succumbed on the way.
A senior police officer said: “We have taken the cognizance and investigations are on.”
“We are identifying the militants involved in the gruesome killing,” a senior police officer told Brighter Kashmir.
Soon after the incident forces launched a hunt to nab the assailants.
Ghulam Nabi Mir, 55, a contractor by profession, was shot at by militants outside his house at Tral Payeen around 7.30 pm, officials said.
Soon after the news of his death spread, a pall of gloom descended in the area. The body has been taken by police for medico-legal formalities after which it will be handed over to his relatives for last rites.
Civilians have often paid the price of the brutal war that has been going on in Kashmir from the last three decades after a local election in Jammu and Kashmir was allegedly rigged at the behest of the central government.
In recent weeks and months, militants have been found involved in a number of civilian killings, including the recent murders of nonlocal truck drivers in south Kashmir areas in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370.
The first half of 2019 in Kashmir witnessed continued and increased violence. The first six months of 2019, according to Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), recorded 271 killings in various incidents of violence, which include 43 civilians, 120 militants and 108 Indian armed forces personnel.
According to JKCCS, the year 2018 was the deadliest year of the last decade as violence resulted in the killing of at least 586 people in different incidents.
“Among 586 people killed, 160 are civilians, 267 are militants and 159 are members of Indian armed forces and Jammu and Kashmir police. The killing of 267 militants during encounters with armed forces and police is also the highest in the last decade,” the JKCCS said in its annual report.
“In fact, there has been a marked uptick in militant killings since 2016 as 145, 216 and 267 militants have been killed in Indian administered Kashmir in 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively. In the last decade the year 2012 witnessed the least number of killings,” the report said.
2012 and some of its stricter provisions were relaxed. After the amendment, period up to which a first-time offender or individual can be put in detention without trial was reduced from two years to three months.