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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Outrage as mob lynches police officer

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SRINAGAR: A mob stripped and lynched a senior police officer in the grand mosque of Srinagar, triggering widespread outrage. Hundreds attended the funeral of 57-year-old Deputy Superintendent of Police Muhammad Ayub Pandit even as two persons were arrested.


“All those involved in the officer’s murder will be brought to justice,” said DGP S P Vaid, adding that a third person has been identified and a manhunt has been launched to trace him.


Pandit was deployed at Srinagar’s largest mosque, the Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta area of Srinagar’s old city.


He was deployed on frisking (access control) duty at the mosque to ensure that nobody enters the holy place with weapons to harm Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and other devotees inside.


Mirwaiz Umer leads the Friday prayers at the mosque and on all other holy occasions.


What has shocked people about his killing is that he was killed during the holiest night of the Islamic calendar — ‘Shab-e-Qadr’.


Pandit was reportedly clicking pictures of the crowd outside the grand mosque to which some people objected. Surrounded by an irate mob, the officer fired from his service revolver to free himself, injuring three persons.


However, the mob overpowered him, stripped him and beat him to death.


Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who attended the wreath laying ceremony at the district police lines, condemned the brutal killing. “He had allowed all his personal security guards to go home and observe the Shab-e-Qadr at their native mosques.


“He performed his duties trusting the goodwill of the people whose lives he was protecting. His murder is actually a murder of trust,” she said.


“Jammu and Kashmir Police is one of the finest police forces in the country. They exercise maximum restraint while dealing with the law and order situation. I fear what will happen if this police force loses its patience,” she said.


Senior ministers Naeem Akhtar, Altaf Bukhari and Haq Khan were also present at the Police Lines besides senior civil, police and paramilitary officers.


Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh termed the killing “highly condemnable”. “It is murder and police would take strongest action against those who were involved.”


DGP Vaid said the lynching of the officer had proved that “very little difference is now left in Kashmir between humanity and barbarism”.


Former state Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah condemed the killing, saying “His death is a tragedy and the manner of his death a travesty. May the people who lynched DySP Pandith burn in hell for their sins.”


Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said the lynching marked a “new low” in Jammu and Kashmir and it was “heartbreaking” to see the state “being pushed back several decades” due to the failure of the BJP-PDP government. — IANS


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