SRINAGAR: A young BJP leader, recently married, and his brother and father were shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday evening near their home in Bandipora in north Kashmir.

The family had been provided with ten personal security officers (PSOs) by the government. All the ten PSOs have been arrested, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar told GNS.

BJP’s National Youth Vice President Er Aijaz Hussain told Kashmir Reader that the trio was killed in cold blood at around 9:30pm outside their home in front of a shop, which is nearby a police station.

The slain leader, Wasim Bari, was former district president of Bandipora and at present was state executive member of the party, Hussain said. His slain brother, Syed Umer, was the programme coordinator for the party’s youth wing in Bandipora. Their father, killed along with them, was also associated with the BJP.

Wasim, Hussain said, was a key figure for the BJP in organising district activities.

“Wasim was so dear to the party that anything to be done in the district could not happen without him. I am in a state of grief, but the incident won’t demoralise us. We are with the family and the BJP will do whatever is possible for them,” Hussain said.

BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Twitter said that he was “shocked and saddened by the killing of young BJP leader Wasim Bari and his brother by terrorists in Bandipora. Bari’s father who is also a senior leader is also injured. This despite 8 security commandos provided to the family.”

Sources told news agency GNS that Wasim and his father and brother were at their shop when some unidentified persons shot at them, injuring them critically. They were shifted to hospital but succumbed to their injuries.
A senior police officer said that the family had eight security personnel but “unfortunately none of them was kept along at the time of the incident.”
“As the house and shop are together, the PSOs were allowed to sit on the first floor,” the officer said.
He said that a case has been launched and further investigation is underway.

Reader correspondent