Srinagar (NVI): The son of a jeweller from Punjab, who was shot dead by terrorists in Srinagar two days back, claimed today that the killing may not have been related to the deceased acquiring domicile certificate of Jammu and Kashmir.
The claim by Rakesh Nischal came after The Resistance Front (TRF) terror outfit, which took responsibility for the killing of 65-year-old Satpal Nischal, said that the jeweller had been targeted for obtaining domicile certificate.
Satpal Nischal was shot multiple times inside his shop in the busy Hari Singh High Street market in the heart of Srinagar on Thursday evening. He was shifted to a hospital where doctors declared him ‘brought dead’.
Later, the TRF, in a statement sent to some media outlets in Kashmir, said it had “conducted an intelligence-based operation in Srinagar today in which an RSS agent, who was posing as a businessman, was neutralized. The individual was an active participant in the demographic change and settler colony project run by Hindutva fascists to alter the demography of Kashmir… The Resistance Front had already warned that any Indian national irrespective of faith, caste or colour, who comes to Kashmir with the intention of settling here, will be treated as an agent of the RSS and not as a civilian.”
TRF, a recently-floated terror outfit which is believed to be a front for Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, said all “outsiders” who got domicile certificates were “RSS agents”.
According to details available, Satpal, who had been doing business in Kashmir for nearly five decades, had obtained the domicile certificate of Jammu and Kashmir a few months back, which enabled him to purchase the shop in Hari Singh High Street.
A domicile certificate entitles any person, who has stayed in Jammu and Kashmir, to purchase immovable property and get a government job in the Union Territory. This privilege was restricted, till the abolition of Article 370 in August 2019, to only those who originally belonged to J&K.
The concept of domicile certificates was introduced in J&K over 7 months back.
Rakesh told NVI today that the family had been living in Kashmir for the past 50 years.
“We started ornament business in Kashmir in 1970. I don’t know who and why my father was killed. We have no grudge with anyone. There was no rivalry at all. It is the job of police to investigate,” he said.
However, at the same time, he claimed that the domicile certificate was not the reason for his father’s killing.
“What is the fun of domicile certificate? We have been residing in Kashmir for past 50 years. We don’t need any job. We have a shop at Hari Singh High Street that we operate on rental basis. I don’t think my father was killed just because he had acquired a domicile certificate,” Nischal argued.
Giving details of the incident, Rakesh said that an armed man entered the shop in his presence and started firing at his father. “He fired at least 7 to 8 bullets,” he said, adding he was unable to identify the assailant as he focussed on trying to save his father.
Police has said it is working on all angles, including the claim made by the terror outfit.
-RJV
