Former panchayat member shot at in Kashmir

Unidentified militants shot at and injured a former panchayat member in Qazigund areas south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Tuesday.

A police official said militants opened fire on Nazir Ahmad Shah, a former panch associated with opposition National Conference in his native Panzath village of Qazigund. He sustained a bullet injury in his leg.

He was shifted to District Hospital Anantnag for treatment where his condition is stated to be stable. The five-year term of Panchayat members in Jammu and Kashmir ended in 2016 and since then the government has failed to hold the fresh polls due to unrest in the Valley.

From 2011 to 2016, more than a dozen panchayat members were killed by the militants. The militants used to threaten the grass roots level representatives of dire consequences if they failed to do so