The spate of targeted civilian killings in Kashmir has swung the spotlight on terror group The Resistance Front (TRF), which claimed responsibility for the deaths of prominent Kashmiri Pandit businessman Makhan Lal Bindroo and two other civilians.
Bindroo (68), the owner of Bindroo Medicate, was shot at by assailants at 7pm on Tuesday from point-blank range while he was at his pharmacy, dispensing medicines, police said, adding that he was declared dead at the hospital.
Barely a few minutes after the killing of Bindroo, militants gunned down a roadside vendor identified as Virendra Paswan, a resident of Bhagalpur in Bihar, who used to earn his livelihood by selling ‘golgappa’ and ‘bhelpuri’. Almost simultaneously, militants shot dead Mohammad Shafi Lone, president of the local taxi stand, at Naidkhai in Bandipora district of north Kashmir.
On Thursday, militants shot and killed two teachers of a government school in Srinagar, both members of the region’s minority Sikh and Hindu communities.
In the last week, seven civilians have been killed in Kashmir, three of them from the Hindu and Sikh communities. In all, 25 civilians, including political workers, have reportedly been killed in targeted assassinations this year, according to police records.
The Resistance Front (TRF) is believed to be a front for Pakistan-based militant organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba. According to sources in the Valley, over-ground workers of the TRF recently converted to main cadres to carry out targeted killings.
“We can see a shift in violence pattern. They want to give a very specific message that non-Muslims and minorities will not be accepted. These terror groups have a problem with new domicile act and new electoral process. These targets are very soft. They are those who are working in the society and for Kashmir,” a source told News18.
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