"This is not first time..." J-K JD (U) President slams Pak over killing of former Sarpanch in Shopian terrror attack

Jammu and Kashmir JD (U) President GM Shaheen said that it is not the first time that Pakistan has tried to disturb peace in Jammu and Kashmir while reacting to the killing of a former Sarpanch in the Shopian terror attack on Saturday.

Jammu and Kashmir JD (U) President GM Shaheen said that it is not the first time that Pakistan has tried to disturb peace in Jammu and Kashmir while reacting to the killing of a former Sarpanch in the Shopian terror attack on Saturday. He also said that the Army and J-K Police have the capability to deal with such elements.

"This was unfortunate because you know that the Pakistani people are the neighbours, they are very bad neighbours and that is their routine work. It is not the first time in the last many years they have tried to disturb the peace in Jammu and Kashmir... You can't compare the situation to 1996, 98 or 93 (with) today," Shaheen told ANI. He said that normalcy returned to Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 6, 2019.

"We had peace again back in Jammu and Kashmir for the last four to five years after the abrogation of Article 370. And if you can see the situation of these sorts of incidents, many more incidents happen in Uttar Pradesh or other places. So these things happen sometimes. But our police and army are very strong, and they will answer these elements," he added. The latest terror attack came days ahead of the polling for the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency scheduled for May 25.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has condemned the killing of the party leader and expressed solidarity with the family of the deceased. "We strongly condemn the killing of ex-Sarpanch Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh in Heerpora, Shopian, by terrorists today (Saturday)," J-K BJP Media Cell in-charge Sajid Yousuf Shah said in a post on X.

"He was a brave soldier of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP firmly stands with the family of Aijaz Ahmad, who lost his life in this terror attack," he added. Former J-K Chief Minister and National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah said there was a need for an investigation into the death of the former Sarpanch.

"Terrorism still exists here...no matter which party member he (BJP leader and ex-Sarpanch Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh) belonged to, targeting somebody, this needs to be investigated whether he was killed by terrorists or people here...before pointing fingers at somebody, it needs to be investigated fast...tourists were also attacked in Pahalgam...this is a tragedy, it is affecting our tourism industry," Abdullah said. According to police, terrorists fired upon Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh at Heerpora in Shopian district late on Saturday night. He was evacuated and taken to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

"BJP leader and ex-Sarpanch Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh succumbed to his injuries after being fired upon by terrorists in Heerpora in South Kashmir's Shopian," IGP Kashmir had said. (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)