- Highway blocked for 8 hours, travellers, people administration faced tough time
- SSP, ADC, ACR & Additional SP faced an uphill task in convincing families.
- Four suspects to be recommended for Narco test on families demand
Shyam Sood
Rajouri, June 12: District Rajouri on Monday witnessed its longest protest demonstration on the Jammu-Poonch highway and the travellers & district administration, both civil & police, faced a tough time during the protest from 9 am to 5 pm.
The protest was organised by the family members of seven civilians, including two minor cousins, who were killed in a terror attack on January 1 & 2, and by the relatives & villagers to express their resentment against the district administration & security forces’ failure to identify & eliminate the perpetrators and in taking action against their supporters
Hundreds of villagers, including members of victim families, blocked the national highway 144 A at Muradpur village raising slogans against the district administration & demanding action against those who helped the terrorists involved in the attack.
Protesters, including Harish Bharti (political leader), Saroj Bala (who lost two sons in the attack), Khem Raj (ex-sarpanch), expressed their resentment over the statements of the top brass of civil & police administration that mislead them saying that more than 80% Dhangri terror attack case has been solved.
“For the last more than 6 months we have been told that the Dhangri terror attack case has almost been solved, but the terrorist involved were not killed nor we have been informed about the action taken against those who facilitated the terror attack,” they added.
The victim’s families were carrying the photos of the slain civilians & were only demanding justice for them.
“We don’t need government jobs and financial assistance. We are demanding justice for our martyrs, which is being delayed due to the lackadaisical attitude of the concerned agencies,” said the victim’s families.
The protesters also demanded arrest and action against 4-5 persons of the same area (Dhangri) for their involvement in facilitating the terror attack.
Reportedly, one among them who is a government employee & posted out of the district, according to families, was present in the village at the time of the terror attack and simultaneously was present on duty.
Another person had demanded a photo of Deepak on the social media platform (terror victim) just a day before of the terror attack.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Dhangri case has been handed over to NIA and as per reports all 4-5 persons have already been interrogated by the police & other agencies, but the victim’s families demanded their Narco test.
SSP Rajouri, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner Revenue, Additional SP along with other senior officers tried their best to convince the protesters to disperse, but failed in their efforts for about 6 hours.
Finally, several Sarpanches of the area pacified the victim’s family members by raising the issue of problems being faced by the travellers on the highway and also assured them of their full support in the future also as a clear message has been conveyed to the administration/police that if our demands are not fulfilled we can go for another such big protest.
District and police administration also assured Saroj Bala and other families for the detention of persons identified by them and to inform NIA team for their Narco test.
According to Harish Bharti, police also assured for interrogation of the suspected persons by NIA in the presence of a few family members
Harish Bharti informed the NIA team has left Jammu for Rajouri in the evening today.
It is pertinent to mention here that on January 1, two terrorists fired at a few houses in the Dhangri village in which four persons were killed, namely Satish Kumar (45), Deepak Kumar (23), Pritam Lal (57) & his son Shishu Pal (32) while after a few days, Deepak’s brother Prince Sharma succumbed to injuries in a hospital at Jammu.
Within a few hours of the terror attack, on January 2, an IED, planted by the fleeing terrorists, exploded at the house of deceased Pritam Lal in which two cousins, namely Vihan Sharma (4) and Samiksha Sharma (1^) were killed and about 10 other injured.
