Attempts being made to give political colour to Kathua killings, says J&K CM Abdullah

Jammu: Expressing concern in the state Assembly over the recent mysterious deaths of five civilians in Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday claimed attempts are being made to give a “political colour” to the killings, and questioned the police for allowing the Leader of Opposition to visit the bereaved families but preventing the deputy chief minister from doing the same.

Abdullah also demanded appropriate action against those who assaulted Independent MLA from Bani, Rameshwar Singh, during his visit to a hospital in Billawar tehsil of Kathua to meet the family members of three civilians whose bodies were retrieved from a waterfall in a remote area on Saturday, three days after they went missing from a marriage function.

The Assembly witnessed heated exchanges between Opposition and treasury benches on Monday, as the members raised various issues, including the civilian killings in Kathua.

CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami asked the chief minister to express concern of the House over the killings.

“Tarigami has rightly raised the point. As the leader of the House, I want to record my concern and that of the House over the situation in Kathua. We condemn the innocent killings (of five persons) and express our condolences to the bereaved families,”

Abdullah said before the beginning of discussions on the state Budget.

The bodies of 15-year-old Varun Singh, his paternal uncle Yogesh Singh (32) and maternal uncle Darshan Singh (40) were found in the Ishu nullah in the remote Malhar area of Kathua on Saturday.

They had gone missing on March 5 while attending a wedding ceremony.

On February 16, the bodies of Shamsher (37) and Roshan (45) were found at Kohag village in Billawar, with their post-mortem reports revealing strangulation.

“What happened, how it happened and why it happened is a matter of investigation which is going on. Discussing it in the House will not be appropriate. An MLA (Rameshwar Singh) wanted to go there and what happened to him is known to everyone. This also needs to be looked into and appropriate action should be taken, as he did not go there to do politics,” the chief minister said.

Chief Minister Abdullah also claimed that senior BJP member and Leader of

Opposition (LoP) Sunil Sharma visited the bereaved family.