‘You will be dead soon,’ Kashmiri Muslim BJP leaders are being gunned down by terrorists

It is a difficult task being a Kashmiri Muslim and a BJP leader at the same time. You tend to become a soft target of the radical elements and even Pakistan-sponsored terrorists who eliminate you for going against their jihadist cause. The Sheikh family of Bandipora, Kashmir came to know this the hard way as it was brutally punished for supporting nationalist forces.

Sheikh Wasim Bari, a 31-year old resident of Bandipora was associated with the BJP along with his entire family since 2014 when PM Modi stormed to power. His brother and father were also junior leaders of the BJP. A terrorist identified as Abid Hakani has murdered all three of them in order to shut down pro-India voices in the valley.

Sheikh Wasim Bari had made rapid strides within the BJP. He was appointed to the party’s state executive in March 2020. Last month, he was also appointed as the Kashmir in-charge, of the party’s Department of Training.

The Sheikhs had also established a two-storey BJP district office opposite to the local police station. Their house with the tricolour and the BJP flag hoisted on the roof served as a landmark in the Muslim neighbourhood. Little did they know that it also made them a potential target.

The gory ‘triple murder’ happened on the night of July 8. Bari had returned after paying a visit to his in-laws. He was with his brother and father in the shop on the ground floor of their house. This was when Hakani ambushed and shot them to death.

The incident has silenced one of the most vocal BJP voices in the Valley. The top BJP leadership too stands shocked by this incident, and Prime Minister Modi has sent his condolences to the bereaved family which now consists of two women and two small children.

Writing for The Quint, Ahmed Ali Fayyaz has reported that Bari often received abuses from pro-Azadi and Pakistani groups. Death threats have been common, with one ‘Samir Ahmad’ commenting on his social media, “Inshallah u will stay in hell soon (sic).”

Kashmir Inspector General of Police, Vijay Kumar has said that the ‘triple murder’ was the result of a security lapse. He revealed that ten police personnel- two from the security wing and eight from the local district police were deputed for the safety of the family.

Yet when the incident happened none of the Sheikh family’s eight Personal Security Officers (PSOs) were around the three BJP leaders.

Kumar added that all the ten PSOs have been arrested for criminal negligence of duty, and are also being dismissed from service.

Meanwhile, the assassin-terrorist who pumped bullets into the father and his two sons has been identified as Abid Hakani. He was seen in a CCTV footage from Bandipora.

Times Now has quoted sources as saying that Hakani had gone to Pakistan through the Wagah border and had infiltrated back into the Indian territory. He had gone to Pakistan as a radical and came back as a trained terrorist.

As the BJP and Modi government pushes its ambitious goal of putting Kashmir on the path of peace and prosperity, radical elements are leaving no stone unturned to get rid of local BJP workers.

Sheikh Wasim Bari was the voice of BJP in Kashmir. He was also a staunch supporter of Indian nationalism.

The incident exposes the modus operandi of Islamist radicalism. As it becomes more and more difficult to infiltrate terrorists keep the Valley on the boil, the violent elements are now looking at targeted killings to create unrest.