A 65-year-old jeweller was shot dead by terrorists on Thursday, 31 December, in Srinagar because he had acquired a domicile certificate, giving him the right to own land and property in Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Friday.
The victim Satpal Nischal had been living in the Jammu and Kashmir capital for over 50 years. He was shot dead at a shop in a busy market.
The Resistance Front (TRF), a terrorist outfit, has claimed the responsibility for the killing. The organisation has claimed that such “outsiders” who had received domicile certificates were “RSS agents,” reported The Indian Express.
“The Resistance Front conducted an intelligence-based operation in Srinagar today in which an RSS agent, who was posing as a businessman, was neutralised. The individual was an active participant in the demographic change and settler colony project run by Hindutva fascists to alter the demography of Kashmir… The Resistance Front had already warned that any Indian national irrespective of faith, caste or colour, who comes to Kashmir with the intention of settling here, will be treated as an agent of the RSS and not as a civilian.”TRF statement, as quoted in media reports
The police are looking into the intention of the murder.
So far, over 10 lakh domicile certificates – that allow people who have lived in Jammu and Kashmir for more than 15 years rights to purchase immovable property – have been issued in the Kashmir valley.
In August 2019, the central government scrapped the state's special powers under the Article 370 of the Constitution, and the restrictions on purchases of land created under the old system.
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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