One person was killed and three others injured in an explosion inside a newly-opened wine shop in north Kashmir’s Baramulla.
“Terrorists lobbed hand grenade inside a newly-opened wine shop in Baramulla. Four employees got injured. One among them succumbed to his injuries,” the police said.
“At about 8.10 p.m., two (militants) riding on a bike stopped near the newly opened wine shop at Dewan Bagh Baramulla. The pillion rider wearing a Burka walked to the window of the wine shop and dropped a grenade inside the wine shop through the porthole window and thereafter fled away on the bike from the spot,” the police added.
The police said the injured persons belonged to the Jammu division. They were shifted to a nearby hospital. The area around Dewan Bagh was cordoned off and a search was started immediately after the attack, the police said.
The deceased has been identified as Ranjit Singh, 52, from Rajouri. The injured were identified as Govind Singh from Rajouri, Goverdan Singh and Ravi Kumar, both from Kathua.
Local sentiments
The J&K administration, in a major push to open liquor shops in the Union Territory (UT), drafted a new excise policy for the year 2021-22 “to allot liquor vends through e-auction”. However, the police had asked the stakeholders to take the sentiment of the local community into account.
Earlier, the J&K government faced opposition and criticism from religious and civil society groups against the move to open 187 liquor shops, including 67 in Kashmir, in 2020. The order was rescinded later.
Meanwhile, Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu strongly condemned the grenade attack. “You can oppose wine shops and also seek prohibition but there is no justification for violence or terror,” Mr. Mattu said, in a tweet.
Senior BJP leader Kavinder Singh said such attacks on minorities are unacceptable. “However, such attacks are worrisome. I am hopeful the attackers will be killed soon,” he said.
A Peoples Conference spokesman said, “I wish those who eagerly pushed the opening of wine shops had been wiser. They should have known these shops will become soft targets. Especially when the security atmosphere is so fragile and the administration utterly clueless.”
