Jammu is under curfew imposed following disturbances after police fired into a crowd of protesters on June 4 and shot a 24-year old telecom engineer. in the head, instantly killing him. The victim was Bhai Jagjeet Singh, resident of the R.S. Pura area. He was taking part in a peaceful protest.
There were clashes later in the Kashmir Valley over the killing. The family are demanding a CBI investigation, an independent probe agency.
On the previous Thursday an army soldier Randeep Singh was killed in a rebel attack in northeastern Manipur state, which is indicative of the continuing state of tension in the region. His body was brought to Akhnoor Jammu on Sunday and thousands of Sikhs witnessed the burial proceedings..
There has been tension for the Sikh community, a minority one in Jammu, ever since the Chittisinghpura massacre which refers to the shooting to death of 36 Sikhs on 20 March 2000, in the Anantnag district of the State of Jammu and Kashmir in India. Apparently committed by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan based group.
The state government has accepted most of the demands of the agitating Sikh community, including magisterial probe and transfer of the district police chief.\
Photo by Shilpa Thakur
