Several BJP leaders and their supporters on Tuesday held a street protest in Srinagar to demand security for all its workers in the Valley, four days after a party leader was shot dead by suspected militants in south Kashmir.
“I have decided to surrender my security too till all BJP workers are provided security cover in Kashmir,” said BJP State general secretary Ashok Kaul.
Mr. Kaul, along with the party spokesman Altaf Thakur, led the street protest at Srinagar’s Press Enclave to press for the demand to grant security for BJP workers. Later, Mr. Kaul boarded a auto rather than the vehicle provided by the State security “as a mark of protest.”
Mr. Kaul claimed he had approached a top police officer in Anantnag and had urged that the security of BJP leader Gul Muhammad Mir, 60, who was killed by suspected militants on Saturday night outside his residence, be not withdrawn.
Mir’s security was withdrawn a few weeks ago without citing any reason.
The State Home Department comes under Governor Satya Pal Malik in Jammu and Kashmir since the State is under President’s Rule. In the last few months, the authorities had withdrawn security from hundreds of political workers, including many from the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party.
Probe ordered
Governor Malik has already directed Chief Secretary B.V.R. Subrahmanyam “to get an inquiry conducted into the killings of political people belonging to various political parties in the State in the last few months.”