JAMMU: Tributes were paid to Parihar brothers, Ajeet Parihar and Anil Parihar, who were killed in Kishtwar by gunmen seven years ago on November 1, 2018. Kishtwar MLA Shagun Parihar wrote on her Facebook post:
आज का दिन मेरे जीवन का सबसे भावुक दिन है, वह दिन जब आतंकियों ने मेरे पापा और छोटे पापा को हमसे छीन लिया। उन्होंने देश और समाज के लिए अपना सर्वोच्च बलिदान दिया।
पापा और छोटे पापा ने हमेशा सिखाया था कि डरकर नहीं, बल्कि सच्चाई और साहस के साथ जीना ही असली ज़िंदगी है। आज भले ही वो हमारे साथ नहीं हैं, पर उनके आदर्श, प्रेम और वीरता हमारे हर कदम के साथ हैं।
आप दोनों का बलिदान हमेशा प्रेरणा देता रहेगा। आज बलिदान दिवस पर आप दोनों को भावपूर्ण श्रद्धांजलि।
Elsewhere, several similar functions were organised by the BJP in J&K.
In September 2024, Shagun Parihar ran as a candidate of the BJP in the Legislative Assembly elections. She was then just 29 and pursuing Ph D, after finishing her M Tech in Electrical Power Systems from IK Gujral Punjab Technical University three years earlier in the year 2021. On October 8, when the votes were counted, Shagun emerged winner defeating her nearest rival Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo of the National Conference (NC) with just 521 votes.
This victory margin can definitely be called razor sharp as it was less the 615 NOTA votes polled in Kishtwar. However, Shagun’s victory is attributed by many in Kishtwar to People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Firdous Ahmed Tak’s 997 votes. Lost in this cacophony is the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had campaigned for Shagun Parihar and called her especially to Doda. Addressing an election rally there, with Shagun standing next to him, Modi said the BJP had given the ticket to her, a terror victim, to reflect the party’s “determination” to wipe out terrorism from Jammu and Kashmir.
Six years before that fateful day when Shagun stood next to PM Modi, her father Ajeet Parihar and uncle Anil Parihar were gunned down in the heart of Kishtwar town on November 1, 2018. On September 24, 2019, almost 11 months after the killing, the Jammu Kashmir Police (JKP) arrested three terrorists affiliated to Hizbul Mujahideen (HM).
Nissar Ahmad Sheikh, one of the conspirators, along with Nishad Ahmad and Azad Hussain, all residents of Kishtwar, were arrested for their involvement in the four cases. These terror incidents had taken place between November 2018 and September 2019. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) had earlier arrested some people, including the sister of a local terrorist, who along with his Kashmiri associate, had carried out the target killings in an attempt to revive terrorism in Kishtwar which borders south Kashmir, considered a hotbed of terrorism once.
Some days after the killing of Parihar brothers, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav had visited the bereaved family. He had then said: “Right now our main challenge is to track down the terrorists (behind the killings) and neutralize them. That will be done very soon.”
On November 5, four days after the gruesome killing, then J&K Governor late Satya Pal Malik had said the accused involved in the killing of Parihar brothers had been identified. According to Shagun’s brother Samaar Parihar, he was told about the gunmen shooting at his father and uncle by their servant in Tappal Market while they were returning home late in the evening.
Samaar said that after learning about the incident, several family members, including his mother and cousins rushed to the spot. He said his father Ajeet was still breathing while his uncle Anil was lying motionless and dead. The people present at the spot hadn’t shifted them to hospital by then. It was only after they reached the spot that some neighbours helped them to shift the duo to hospital where both of them were declared ‘brought dead’.
The Parihar brothers usually had Personal Security Officers (PSOs) with them most of the time. However, his uncle Anil asked them to go away once they reached near their home. It was after the PSOs had left them that the HM terrorists cornered the Pariar brothers and shot them. The incident had led to widespread condemnation pouring in and communally sensitive Kishtwar being put under curfew.
