Shah to visit Jammu Sunday, pay homage to security personnel killed in Pulwama attack and encounter

BJP national president Amit Shah will visit Jammu city on Sunday and pay homage to the security personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack and in the encounter four days later, BJP leader and former deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Kavinder Gupta said on Thursday.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14 when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus.

On February 18, an Army major and four security forces personnel lost their lives in a fierce 16-hour encounter in south Kashmir in which three JeM terrorists, including two top commanders believed to be behind the Pulwama attack, were killed.

Gupta said the BJP chief would pay homage to the security personnel killed in Pulwama attack and in the encounter at the 'Shradhanjili Samaraoh' on Sunday and address party workers there.

BJP state general secretary Narinder Singh said after paying homage to the security personnel, the BJP workers would listen Prime Minister Narendra Modi's radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat'.

He appealed to the party functionaries to reach out to the active workers and request them to attend the ceremony.

Gupta thanked Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Governor Satya Pal Malik for withdrawing the security of the separatists and some political activists and said the government should also review the security to other political leaders who "always spread venom" in society by "issuing anti-national statements".