Newly appointed Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday promised better security arrangement for grassroots-level elected leaders but asked them to take precautionary measures as well.
"Many people have spoken about security issues. We have lost several colleagues recently…My sympathies and the administration stand with their families.
"Whatever possible security arrangements have been made, these have also been reviewed. I want to assure you that we will make our efforts to provide best security arrangements to you," Sinha said while addressing a function to felicitate COVID-19 warriors here at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC).
The lieutenant governor urged sarpanchs, panchs and other elected members to adopt precautionary measures for their own safety. "I will not enlist those measures publicly but these will be conveyed to you by authorities in one way or the other," he added.
Sinha was responding to concerns raises by grassroots elected leaders about their security, following killing of several panchayat members and some BJP workers by militants in Kashmir over the past one month.
Four Bharatiya Janata Party workers or office-bearers have been targeted by militants in the last one month. BJP's district president for Bandipora Waseem Bari, his father and brother were shot dead by militants last month.
A BJP panch was shot at and injured on August 4 while another sarpanch from the party was shot dead two days later in south Kashmir's Kulgam district. A BJP worker was shot at by militants in Budgam district on August 9 and died a day later.
The target killings has led to nearly a dozen BJP leaders resigning from the party in just past three days.
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