BJP Leader Objects to Party MLA's Claim on Mosque Announcements Before SPO Killings in Jammu

JAMMU: A BJP leader from J&K’s Kishtwar, Jahanzaib Sirwal, on Sunday objected to party MLA Shagun Parihar's claim that announcements were made from a mosque ahead of the killing of two special police officers in the high-altitude Dachhan belt, terming the allegation deeply unfortunate and factually unsubstantiated. The Islami Markaz-e-Majlis Shura Kishtwar, headed by Jamia Masjid Imam Maulana Farooq Ahmad Kichloo, also rejected the allegation levelled by Parihar, terming her claims baseless and potentially detrimental to peace and communal harmony in the sensitive district, and demanded a public apology from the legislator. Special police officers (SPOs) Babi Chand (57) and Rashpal Kumar (45), both residents of Kishtwar district in Jammu division, were found dead in the Dachhan forest area early Thursday, a day after they went missing while on their way to a security post at Basnand in the adjoining Marwah tehsil. In a video showing Kishtwar MLA Parihar speaking on the sidelines of a wreath-laying ceremony for the two slain SPOs, she purportedly claimed that announcements were made from a mosque ahead of the killings and questioned the delay in action against those involved. “Why have those involved not been apprehended yet? Announcements were made from a mosque. Someone must be passing on information, and leaking intelligence from here. Our people are being selectively targeted and killed,” the MLA alleged.