Blast at local BJP leader’s house in Indian-administered Kashmir kills 4-year-old boy

By Hilal Mir

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - An explosion late Thursday at the residence of a local leader of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Jammu region of Indian-administered Kashmir killed his 4-year-old nephew and wounded him and five relatives.

In a video released by a local newspaper, a man who identified himself as a relative of the leader, Jasbir Singh, told the reporter that they could hear the thud of a grenade that was tossed on the rooftop of the leader’s house in Rajouri district, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the capital Srinagar, where several family members were chatting while children were playing.

The wounded were hospitalized.

Singh, who suffered minor injuries, is heard complaining: “Why didn’t the police provide security to us and my party members?”

No official statement has been issued so far on the explosion.

On Monday, suspected militants killed Ghulam Rasool Dar and his wife Jawahira, both elected village council members of India’s BJP, in Kulgam district in southern Kashmir.

Several Kashmiri Muslim members of the BJP have been killed and others attacked since Aug. 5, 2019 when the Indian government scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s autonomous status, raising fears of demographic flooding by Hindus. Dozens of Muslim workers and activists of the party are currently lodged in heavily guarded official accommodations.

-Disputed region

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China. Since they were partitioned in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965, and 1971. Two of them were over Kashmir.

Also, in the Siachen Glacier region in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire took effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands have reportedly been killed in the conflict since 1989.