Leaders cutting across party lines on Thursday expressed concern over an assassination attempt on National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah in Jammu, with the opposition and Union government trading barbs in Parliament over the incident, even as a local court remanded the accused to five-day police custody for questioning.
Abdullah, 88, had a miraculous escape on Wednesday night when a gunman fired at him from point blank range while he was leaving a wedding function in Jammu’s Greater Kailash area. CCTV footage showed personnel attached to the NC leader’s details intercepting the attacker and evacuating the leader from the venue.
The accused, Kamal Singh Jamwal, a resident of Purani Mandi in Jammu, approached Abdullah from behind and reached point-blank range. Investigators said the 63-year-old accused discharged a shot from his licensed .32 caliber pistol before alert security personnel, including NSG commandos, overpowered him.
Jamwal, a local businessman, told investigators he had been “waiting for 20 years” to target the NC chief due to a personal grudge. “I wanted to kill Farooq Abdullah for the past 20 years. Today I got the opportunity, but he was lucky to survive,” a police officer quoted Jamwal as saying.
The accused was produced in the Jammu court, which allowed five-day police remand.
Talking to reporters in Jammu, Abdullah said that Union home minister Amit Shah assured him that a high-level probe is underway. “I received a call from the Union home minister who asked about my well-being and assured me that they would investigate the matter thoroughly. The inquiry is essential,” he said.
Recounting the incident, the former J&K chief minister said he heard a sharp noise and thought it to be the sound of a firecracker. “My security immediately rushed me into a car. I was later informed that a man with a pistol had fired.”
Abdullah credited his personal detail for saving his life, but questioned a conspicuous absence of local police despite the presence of dignitaries, including deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary and CM’s adviser Nasir Aslam Wani.
A case of attempt to murder and firing a weapon under relevant sections of BNS has been registered against Jamwal.
Meanwhile, the incident dominated proceedings in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, leading to sharp exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches.
The government is taking the assassination bid with utmost seriousness, Leader of the Rajya Sabha and Union minister J P Nadda said. It came in response to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s allegation that there seemed to be a conspiracy to eliminate Abdullah — who has Z+ category security — and blaming revocation of J&K’s statehood for the incident.
“A murderous attack on Abdullah is a matter of great concern and a very serious matter…,” Nadda said. He assured the members of the House that “appropriate action will be taken”.
Accepting the severity of the attack on Abdullah, Nadda rebutted the opposition’s attempt, saying: “Reaching a conclusion that this happened because (J&K) was not given statehood… and making allegations that there is in a way a conspiracy being hatched to kill him… is condemnable.”
Kharge, who raised the issue when the House met for the day, said Abdullah’s security was at risk. “His security is under threat because statehood of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked,” the leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said, referring to J&K police coming under the MHA after the revocation of statehood.
The attack also forced an immediate rethink of VIP security protocols. The NSG announced a comprehensive security audit for all nine high-risk dignitaries under its cover which includes Abdullah.
“There are more questions than answers at the moment, including how someone was able to get this close to a Z+ NSG-protected former CM,” J&K CM and Abdullah’s son Omar Abdullah said.
Political leaders in J&K, including PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, CPI(M)’s MY Tarigami, and People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone, condemned the cowardly act.
(With inputs from PTI)
