People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Abdul Gani Dar was killed in an attack by suspected terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Monday. Dar, the Pulwama district president of PDP, was rushed to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar, where he fought for his life after being critically wounded in the attack.
The attack on Dar, who is also known as Gani Vakil, happened even as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and subsequently assured people that the situation in the state would return to normal in two-three months.
Dar was travelling in his jeep with X-category security when the attack took place, said local sources. This was not the first time he was attacked by militants. In 2010, when he was in the Congress as the party's Pulwama district president, he had been attacked in his house. Although he had been injured back then, he had survived the attacked.
PDP leaders and workers have been targeted in several attacks by militants since the beginning of this year. Cousins and PDP workers Bashir Ahmad Dar and Altaf Ahmad Dar were attacked by militants on April 15. While Bashir died on the spot, Altaf was badly injured.
Last month, militants had targeted the ancestral home of Jammu and Kashmir Minister of State for Hajj and Auqaf Farooq Andrabi. Two policemen were injured in the late night attack in Dooru Tehsil of Anantnag district.
Even otherwise, attacks on public figures has been taking place with alarming regularity in J&K. Former public prosecutor Imtiyaz Ahmad Khan was gunned down at his house in Pinjoora village of Shopian district in mid-April. The attack was one of the most brazen of its kind, and also led to the death of another person in the house.
