Bihar migrant worker killed in Kashmir, first targeted attack since new government took charge

SRINAGAR: The bullet-riddled body of a 30-year-old migrant labourer named Ashok Chauhan from Bihar’s Banka district was found late Friday in a maize field near Rambiara river in south Kashmir ’s Shopian district. Police said Chauhan was abducted and killed by terrorists, marking the first targeted attack on migrant workers in the valley since CM Omar Abdullah ’s coalition govt assumed office in J&K on Oct 16.

Chauhan had been working in an orchard in Waduna area of Zainapora town and went missing after being called by some people. His body was later spotted by residents, who informed police. He had bullet wounds in his chest and neck, an official said Saturday.

This is the fourth targeted attack on non-natives in Kashmir this year. A tourist cab driver named Paramjit Singh from Delhi was critically wounded in Shopian on April 8, while Raju Shah, a 35-year-old migrant worker from Bihar, was shot dead by terrorists in Anantnag on April 17. In Feb, two men from Punjab were shot dead in Srinagar.

The killing of Chauhan, who used to side hustle as a roadside vendor selling roasted maize, has reignited concerns about terrorism and violence in the region, posing an immediate challenge for the first elected govt in the Union territory since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. “Our security forces are determined to hunt down the culprits and bring them to justice. My thoughts are with his family members…,” lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha posted.

CM Omar condemned the attack, while J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina said: “Cowardly Pakistani terrorists killed Ashok Chauhan…The terrorists will be punished.”