Former chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Thursday blamed the “web of hatred” prevailing in the country for Wednesday night’s assassination attempt, an incident that offers a stark glimpse into the growing anti-Kashmiri radicalisation in Jammu.
Farooq’s remarks came as a court in Srinagar on Thursday issued a non-bailable warrant against him after rejecting his exemption plea in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association scam case that is being investigated by the CBI.
The NC leader survived an assassination bid at a Jammu wedding on Wednesday when an elderly man, Kamal Singh Jamwal, came very close to putting a pistol to the back of Farooq’s head after breaching his security ring as he was leaving the party.
The assailant pulled the trigger but an alert guard knocked his arm aside, which deflected the bullet in a split second. Jamwal told police that he was 63 years old but looked older.
Grainy CCTV footage showed Farooq, 88, unmindful of what was happening
behind him, providentially lowering his head in the nick of time, which might also have saved him.
Farooq was accompanied by deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary and a dozen other people, including his personal guards.
Farooq said he was whisked away and learnt about the bid on his life only when he got into his car.
“I thought it was the sound of a firecracker. These things happen in marriages. I felt a slight warmth from behind but knew nothing. In the meantime, they whisked me away. I was made to sit in a car and told there that he had a pistol and had fired two shots,” Farooq told reporters.
“The environment we live in, a web of hatred has been cast,” he said.
Jamwal, in a video shot by the police immediately after he was arrested, appeared remorseless. “For the last 20 years, I have wanted to kill Farooq Abdullah,” he said.
“I wanted to kill him. Today I got an opportunity and tried to kill him. He did not die but survived,” Jamwal said, adding that it was his personal mission to kill the three-time chief minister.
Jamwal told the police that he was a resident of Jammu’s Purani Mandi, calling it the first capital of Jammu state. “Purani Mandi, purana shahar, purana gaaon of Jammu. The first capital. Write that also,” he told the police.
Jammu’s Dogra heartland has been gripped by anti-Kashmiri and anti-Muslim sentiments in recent years. There have been a series of protests after Muslims dominated the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence Medical College entrance exam. There were also protests against the setting up of a National Law University in Kashmir and the presence of a larger number of Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir’s cricket team.