Search the Internet          Tips

Grenade attack on Shabir's envoy to Pant

Militants late Thursday afternoon attacked the headquarters of the Democratic Freedom Party of Shabir Ahmad Shah at Rajbagh with a hand grenade.

However no one was injured in the explosion. Police said a grenade was hurled towards the office, but it exploded near the main gate.

Shah, who recently announced readiness to hold talks with central interlocutor K C Pant is away on a tour.

A two-member delegation of the party recently met Pant in New Delhi to ''seek certain clarifications''.

A PTI report said party secretary general Maulvi Mohammad Abdullah Tahri, who held talks with Pant last week, escaped an attempt on his life.

The attack took place when Tahri was engaged in organisational matters with party workers in the courtyard of the building.

A caller introducing himself to be a spokesman of hitherto unknown Al-Hamas Mujahideen claimed that his outfit was behind the attack.

He told a local news agency that the attack was just a warning to those who try to involve themselves in parleys with New Delhi on Kashmir.

Meanwhile, 16 Srinagar-based journalists and videographers were injured after they were assaulted by surcharged members of the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) at Magam in central Budgam district.

A party of journalists reached Magam on Thursday morning to follow up Wednesday's incident in which nine persons, including two militants and an assistant commandant of the BSF, died in a massive explosion, they were assaulted by the soldiers.

The police had Thursday morning handed over bodies of the shopkeepers who died in the explosion to relatives. Hundreds of villagers joined the funeral, shouting anti-ceasefire and anti-government slogans.

While the bodies were being taken to the graveyard, a posse of BSF, led by a deputy commandant reached the spot and stopped the procession. The BSF men, using gun butts, assaulted the villagers, who ran for cover, leaving behind the bodies. The bodies laid on the road with soldiers chasing the villagers.

The BSF men later chased the journalists.

Senior BSF officers, who reached the spot, did not control the soldiers.

The photo-journalists bore the brunt as some of their equipment was smashed.

Area deputy inspector general (DIG) BSF, A M Malik ordered his men to "teach the newsmen a lesson".

The bodyguards of Malik, according to journalists, beat the newsmen, who were crying for help. It was during that period that another DIG R P Singh rushed to Magam, after being informed about the beating of newsmen. Cameraman of a Madras-based TV channel B Kumar was lifted by the BSF men and thrown in a river along with his camera. He received serious head injuries and had to be shifted to the medical institute Soura for specialised treatment.

"They pelted stones and thrashed us in front of the two senior BSF officers. Our equipment was badly damaged. We ran for our lives and took refuge in a local police station," said Naseer Ahmed, who works for Zee News. Sixteen reporters, including the Srinagar-based correspondent of The Hindu newspaper Shujat Bukhari, Reuters correspondent Shiekh Mustaq, APTN cameraman Mehraj-Ud-Din, ANI cameraman Bilal Bhat and NDTV cameraman S Tariq, were injured in the incident.

Receiving reports about the situation at Magam, Minister of State for Home Mushtaq Ahmad Lone along with police chief A K Suri arrived and tried to pacify tempers.

BSF Director General Gurbachan Jagat, who headed the state police for four years, expressed "deep regrets over the incident". Jagat sent his Srinagar-based senior most officer to each journalist, assuring action against those involved.

In a message, Jagat, who during his stay had excellent relations with the local press and Srinagar-based correspondents, said, "An enquiry will be conducted by a senior officer of the BSF immediately and action will be taken after receipt of the report."

Complete Coverage: The Ceasefire in J&K

Tell us what you think of this report