Assailants kill 3 ruling BJP politicians in restive Kashmir

Gunmen in India’s restive Kashmir region have killed three local politicians from the country’s far-right ruling party with police accusing combatants fighting for independence in the disputed area bordering Pakistan.

Police said the assailants gunned down on Thursday night three members of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kashmir’s southern Kulgam district, adding that they died after being transferred to a hospital.

Police further stated that government troops were engaged in a search operation to find the shooters, but did not elaborate on other details.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which came just two days after New Delhi imposed new laws in the restive region allowing non-local citizens to purchase land in Kashmir, aggravating existing concerns from residents and rights groups that regard such measures as a deliberate strategy to change the demographics of the Muslim-majority region.

The attack took place shortly after police arrested, earlier in the day, several pro-India Kashmiri politicians who oppose the new land laws as they tried to protest the policy in the region’s main city of Srinagar.

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Condemning the incident as a “barbaric terror attack,” BJP confirmed in a Twitter post that the killed politicians were members of its youth wing and that one of them was general secretary of the party’s  branch in Kulgam district.

 “Those who are responsible for this will not be spared,” it further vowed.

This is while a local BJP spokesman, Altaf Thakur, stated that the ultra-nationalist party has so far lost nine of its members in armed attacks this year. In July, assailants shot and killed a top politician along with his father and brother, who were also party members.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, with both claiming it in its entirety. Pro-independence fighters have been fiercely resisting Indian rule since 1989. Most Muslim residents of Kashmir support the aim of the pro-independence movement; to either become independent of or join neighboring Muslim nation of Pakistan.

Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.

Until last year, Indians were not allowed to purchase property in Kashmir. However, in August 2019, Modi’s government stripped Kashmir of its constitutional autonomous status and unilaterally introduced a slew of laws that locals say are aimed at shifting the region’s demographics and economically disempowering local residents.

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The move triggered widespread anger and economic ruin amid a brutal security crackdown on the massive protests as well as a communications blackout.

Moreover, India’s Home Ministry earlier this month imposed property tax on all types of land and buildings throughout the Kashmir region.

The order sparked widespread condemnations, with political and civil activists saying that such moves would overburden the people and further worsen the already fragile economic situation in the region, which witnesses frequent disturbances.

Scores of non-resident Kashmiris have also been granted domicile certificates under a new citizenship law. The certificate entitles a non-Kashmiri to job and residency in Kashmir, which were until then reserved only for the locals.

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