Valley Business Blames RSS For Attack On Truckers

SRINAGAR: Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA), an amalgam of Valley-based businesses has accused the RSS-backed groups of carrying out the attack on two Kashmiri truckers in Jammu region.

Describing last Friday's attack as an attempt to "weaken" Jammu and Kashmir’s economy at the peak of the horticulture season, the KEA chairman, Showkat Chaudhary, said the traders in Kashmir will snap ties with their Jammu counterparts if Kashmiris are attacked in that region again.

"RSS has chosen this time to attack these trucks in order to deal a blow on our horticulture industry. It is a well-thought plan to weaken our economy. The civil society and businesses in Jammu must condemn these attacks if they want to continue relations with us,” said Chowdhary.

According to officials, between 1000 - 1500 trucks laden with fruits like apple, walnut, pears, etc. get dispatched to the wholesale markets across the country at this time of the year, particularly to Azadpur Mandi in the capital New Delhi, where it is sold either by the owners themselves or their agents.

The threat by Kashmir Inc. comes three days after two Kashmiris were critically injured when a petrol bomb was hurled at their stationary truck on Srinagar-Jammu highway in Shakti Nagar area of Jammu's Udhampur district.

Accusing the chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of failing to act against "real culprits", the KEA chairman demanded security for the fruit-laden trucks plying on Srinagar-Jammu highway. “Violence is rising in the state but the government is silent. It seems they are waiting for another tragedy to happen," he said.

Although the J&K Police has arrested six persons and booked them under the Public Safety Act, the Udhampur attack has created an uproar in Kashmir Valley where a partial to complete shutdown was observed on Monday to protest the "murderous assault" on two Kashmiri truckers, allegedly by Hindu right-wing activists.

Coming to the rescue of their coalition partner, the BJP, the PDP leader, Imran Raza Ansari, who is also J&K's sports minister, Monday ruled out the involvement of the right-wing party in the attack. The BJP blamed National Conference and Congress for the attack, arguing that the opposition wants to "destabilise" the coalition government.