Prominent religious leader Maulana Showkat Ahmad Shah, President of Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadith, Kashmir, was assassinated in a remote-controlled blast at the gates of a central Srinagar mosque shortly before Friday prayers on April 8. Maulana Showkat had denounced the violent protests that resulted in the death of 115 people in police firings in Jammu and Kashmir last year and he was engaged in talks with the Centre’s interlocutors.
The targeted bombing at the mosque, in conflict-torn Kashmir, silenced another moderate figure in Kashmir politics.
All separatist leaders such as JKLF Chairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik, the Chairman APHC Syed Ali Shah Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, have strongly condemned the killing of Maulana Showkat and demanded enquiry into the killing.
Peoples’ Democratic Party leaders Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti said it was “another painful addition to the larger Kashmir saga.” Dileep Padgaonkar, who heads the team of interlocutors, said: “This is a reprehensible act, and it runs counter to the Kashmiri tradition of tolerance of all faiths and opinions.”