They also burnt the effigy of Engineer Rashid and the state government for its alleged failure to strictly impose the law that prohibits the slaughter and sale of beef in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
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Srinagar, Ruling coalition and opposition members were locked in heated exchanges in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Saturday over a bomb attack on a Kashmir Valley-bound truck that left two men battling with burns.
As the question hour began in the Assembly, two Opposition members of the National Conference, Abdul Majeed Bhat and Altaf Ahmad Wani, sought the government’s attention on the attack.
Opposition leader, Ali Muhammad Sagar of the NC, accused the BJP of “trying to fan communal fire in the State”.
The attack comes a day after Udhampur and adjacent areas observed a shutdown after the carcasses of the cows were found in the district.
The entire Opposition – NC and Congress members, MY Tarigami of the CPM, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen (PDF) and Independent MLA Abdul Rashid Sheikh – walked out. “The carcass of a cow was found somewhere but the animal had died a natural death”, he said.
Minister of horticulture Abdul Rehman Veeri told the Legislative Assembly that on Friday night a group of miscreants assembled near hotel Dolphin in Shiv Nagar area of the district and hurled a bottle containing a few combustible material on a truck which was on way from Jammu to Srinagar.
Veeri identified three of the five people arrested as Bal Bahadur Singh, Sandoor Singh and Suneet Singh. Two persons (Kashmir residents) received burn injuries who have been rushed to Jammu hospital for specialized treatment.
An FIR under the Explosives Substances Act has been registered against the accused and a hunt was on to nab others responsible for the incident.
According to truck driver Rameez Ahmad Bhat, who was unhurt, the attackers struck while the truckers were sleeping.
The pro-freedom leadership on Saturday condemned the attack on a truck, belonging to a Kashmiri Muslim, by goons in Udhampur terming it “terrorism” by communal elements of India.
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The bandh was called by Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) and supported by various religious and social organisations, including Bar Association Jammu (BAJ), evoking near complete response in the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir.
