Stone pelters in Jammu and Kashmir claimed the life of a 22-year-old tourist from Chennai on Monday.
The incident, which took place at Narbal en route to Gulmarg, occurred when the agitators hurled stones at a vehicle.
R Thirumani was hit on the nose and forehead in the stone pelting. He was shifted to Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences where he succumbed to his injuries.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Central Kashmir Range, Vidhi Kumar Birdi told DNA that the tourist was admitted in SKIMS and in the evening he started vomiting. “Doctors tried to resuscitate him but he died,” he said.
J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti later visited the family of the victim and offered all possible help, ANI reported.
Police have registered a case and massive hunt has been launched to identify the stone pelters. “We are investigating the case. I would not like to divulge the details”, said Birdi.
Director Tourism Kashmir Mehmood Ahmad Shah, however, said he has no information about the incident so far. “I have no information so far. I am not aware”, he said.
This is the second incident of attack on tourists in the last seven days. On May 1, seven tourists were injured in stone throwing incident in south Kashmir.
This is the third incident when stone-pelters have attacked innocent civilians in Kashmir. On May 2 shock and anger swept across Kashmir after ubiquitous gangs of stone throwers attacked a school bus injuring a Class II student in the sensitive Shopian district of South Kashmir.
Former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who has been vocal about Mufti granting amnesty to the stone pelters, condemned the incident. “We’ve killed a tourist by throwing stones at the vehicle he was travelling in. Let’s try and wrap our heads around the fact that we stoned a tourist, a guest, to death while we glorify these stone pelters & their methods,” he tweeted.
Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq too condemned the incident. “Deeply saddened by the news of death of a tourist due to stone pelting. Condemn such hooliganism and rowdiness. It is totally against our ethos of treating tourists as respected guests and brings a bad name to the peoples movement,” he tweeted.
