Srinagar, March 12 (KNS): President of the Awami National Conference, Begum Khalida Shah, on Thursday spoke over the telephone with veteran Kashmiri leader and former Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah, personally enquiring about his well-being after a narrowly foiled assassination attempt during a wedding ceremony in Jammu.
Following the conversation, Begum Khalida Shah confirmed that her brother, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, is “in good health and hearty,” expressing profound relief at his safe escape from what she described as a deeply disturbing and life-threatening incident.
At the same time, she delivered a scathing indictment of what she termed an unforgivable and alarming collapse of security.
“This cannot be dismissed as the act of a lone deranged individual. The circumstances strongly point to a far more serious and sinister design,” she asserted, noting the extraordinary breach that allowed an armed assailant to reach within point-blank proximity of senior political leaders.
The ANC President also voiced strong outrage at the captured assailant’s brazen and unapologetic behaviour during interrogation.
“The terrorist appeared completely unafraid and unrepentant, even attempting to dictate terms to the officials questioning him,” she said. “He used openly jingoistic language and repeatedly boasted about ‘Jammu partisanship’. Such rhetoric reflects a level of hostility that goes far beyond any personal grievance.”
“It is evident that the hatred driving this terrorist was ideological and collective rather than personal. The recent attempts to poison relations between the people of Jammu and Kashmir seem to have provided the ideological fuel for this act. His own words leave little room for doubt. This is not merely a crime but it is a grave hate-driven act steeped in regional bias. Those who have recently promoted divisive narratives must be thoroughly investigated,” she said.
She further warned that the incident raises deeply unsettling questions about the safety of public life in the region.
“When leaders of the stature of Dr. Farooq Abdullah & Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary can be targeted at such close range, what assurance remains for the safety of ordinary citizens? This is unprecedented and unmistakably points toward a mala fide design. The Lieutenant Governor’s administration must respond with the utmost seriousness and transparency.”
Begum Khalida Shah concluded with a firm and principled reminder of democratic values.
“Ideological differences can never justify assassination or violence against political opponents. Political disagreement must never be allowed to degenerate into a licence to kill. Jammu and Kashmir has already paid an unimaginable price for violence in the past. We cannot and will not allow hatred, disguised as regional or ideological loyalty, to drag our society back into that darkness.”(KNS)