BDC chairman shot dead by militants in Kashmir's Budgam

On a day when Jammu and Kashmir administration decided to hold polls for vacant panchayat seats in the Union Territory (UT), militants shot dead a Block Development Council (BDC) chairman in Khag area of Central Kashmir’s Budgam district on Wednesday evening.

The incident took place at around 7.45 pm when militants opened fire at Bhupinder Singh just outside his residence. He was taken to a hospital where he was declared as brought dead, a police official said.

Preliminary reports said Singh was assigned two personal security officers (PSOs) from District Police Line (DPL) Budgam.

“He dropped off the PSOs at the Khag police station on Wednesday and headed towards his residence in Srinagar's Aloochibagh. However, Singh instead changed his route and started heading towards his ancestral home in Khag without informing the police. This is when militants opened fire at him,” sources said.

Earlier, in the day, J&K Administrative Council which met under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha decided to conduct elections to vacant sarpanch/panch constituencies.

When the elections for panchayats were held in November-December 2018, close to 60% of the total seats in Kashmir had remained vacant due to lack of participation by the regional parties - National Conference (NC) and PDP - in the electoral process. The election was largely boycotted in Kashmir and over 12,600 panchayat seats are still lying vacant.

The latest attack comes in the wake of multiple such cases reported from the valley this year. On August 6, BJP sarpanch Sajad Khanday was shot dead at Vessu, Qazigund in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district. Before that militants killed BJP leader Sheikh Waseem Bari along with his father and brother in northern Bandipora district.

Last month amid rising attacks by militants against panchayat members and the BJP workers, LG Sinha had said they will ensure better security arrangements for those facing threats.