SRINAGAR: At least 24 elected panchayat members have been killed in the Valley in a decade and whenever an election process gets under way in Jammu and Kashmir, said J&K Panchayat Conference chairman Mohammad Shafiq Mir.
Talking to this newspaper, Mir said the panchs and sarpanchs are being targeted and that they have been requesting the administration to provide security to the elected members since a decade.
“Between 2012 and 2022, 24 panchayat members including panchs and sarpanchs have been killed by militants in J&K,” he said.
Three elected panchayat members – two sarpanchs and one panch – were killed by militants in Kashmir this month only.
Of them, a sarpanch and panch were killed in two separate incidents in Kulgam in south Kashmir and another sarpanch was shot dead by militants at his house in Srinagar.
“Militants feel the panchs and sarpanchs carry out political and democratic activities which is why they are being targeted. They are easy targets as they don’t have any security. Now that polls in J&K are likely to be held in the next 5 months, the killings have taken place,” he said.