Ruckus in J&K assembly over attack on Valley-bound truck

Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Saturday over a petrol bomb attack on a Valley-bound truck at Udhampur on Jammu-Srinagar national highway.

When the proceedings began in the assembly on Saturday, opposition National Conference (NC) supported bythe Congress and independent legislators demanded a reply from the government over the attack.

All opposition members stood on their seats and NC lawmaker, Abdul Majeed Larmi walked close to the speaker's chair in protest.

There were heated arguments and verbal duel between NC members and ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition members in the house.

Independent legislator Engineer Rashid said the "assembly has lost credibility" and termed members as "living corpses".

Senior Minister Abdul Rehman Veeri tried to pacify the opposition and said their concerns are genuine and they must listen to government's reply.

"We condemn the attack," Veeri said.

"At around 11.45 p.m. yesterday a group of miscreants attacked a Kashmir bound truck at Udhampur with some combustible material. Two persons (Kashmir residents) received burn injuries who have been rushed to Jammu hospital for specialized treatment.

"Three accused have been arrested by police and a manhunt has been launched to nab the other miscreants involved in the attack," said Veeri, who was replying on behalf of state government.

The opposition, however, was not satisfied with the reply and said such incidents have potential to harm communal harmony of the state.

As the opposition continued with their protest, senior NC leader Ali Muhammad Sagar had a heated exchange of words with BJP legislators and said: "You want to fan communal fire in the state."

Veeri added that state police chief will visit the attack site on Saturday and assured the house that the government will carry out a fair investigation.

However, entire opposition including NC, Congress, Engineer Rashid, M.Y. Tarigami of CPI-M and Hakim Yaseen of Peoples Democratic Front walked out in protest.