In yet another targeted killing, terrorists gunned down Rajni Bala in Kulgam district of south Kashmir on Tuesday. A resident of Samba district in Jammu, Rajni was a teacher with the Government High School in Gopalpora area of Kulgam. She was killed on Tuesday morning, barely a week after Ambreen Bhat, a TV artiste, was gunned down outside her home in Badgam on May 25. Before that Rahul Bhatt, an employee of the Tehsil office in Budgam district’s Chadoora, was shot dead by terrorists on May 12.
Speaking to The Daily Guardian Review, Rajni’s husband Raj Kumar said, “We had requested many a time to the Chief Education Officer and other officials to transfer her to a nearby school in Kulgam city. The high school where she was posted was in rural area and had no boundary wall.” In May alone seven persons have lost their lives in targeted killings by terrorists in the Valley, including two policemen Saifullah Qadri and Ghulam Hassan Dar.
The school teacher’s targeted killing came for sharp condemnation from all quarters, even as Kashmiri Pandits blocked BB Cant road in Srinagar in protest. The Minority Community Forum, consisting of Hindu minority and PM package employees, threatened to migrate en mass to Jammu.
“We all are mass migrating to Jammu in 24 hours, as it is clear that Government has failed to provide us any security. We are neither scapegoats nor peace messengers, so please do not make lives of our families hell. No government can force us any more to stay in the Valley. We have right to life and we will achieve that,” the forum said in a statement here on May 31. A delegation of the protesting Pandits called on Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to submit a memorandum demanding relocation of all Pandit employees to a ‘safer place” until conditions turned normal.
Condemning the killing as “the most reprehensible act,” Governor Sinha’s office tweeted, “Terrorists and their sympathizers will be given an unforgettable response for the dastardly attack.” JK Govt has sought details of all migrant employees, other than PM package employees, of Jammu region working in Kashmir. In a related development, TRF (The Resistance Front) has again warned migrant Kashmiri Pandits and non-locals working in the Valley.
Demanding a death sentence to the perpetrators, senior BJP leader and former Cabinet minister Bali Bhagat, said, “Selective killing of a female teacher like this is the biggest crime of humanity.” Criticizing the government assurances as ‘hollow’, National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, “Very sad. This is yet another targeted killing in a long list of recent attacks directed at unarmed civilians. Words of condemnation and condolence ring hollow as do the assurances of the government that they will not rest till the situation normalises. May the deceased rest in peace.”
Terming all the assurances of security given by the Central and state governments as a complete failure, Shiv Sena leader Manish Sahni demanded arms license for unarmed civilians in the Kashmir Valley.