A gunman caught on camera trying to shoot Farooq Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, on Wednesday told police that he had been planning to kill the 88-year-old National Conference (NC) chief for the past two decades.
Police have ruled out a terror angle in the incident and said the gunman was drunk during a wedding in Jammu at the time of the incident.
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Farooq Abdullah and Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary narrowly escaped being attacked by a gunman. The incident occurred when Abdullah along with Deputy Chief Minister and Chief Minister’s Adviser Nasir Aslam Wani were leaving the venue in the upmarket Greater Kailash area on the outskirts of the city, officials said.
The accused, identified as Kamal Singh Jamwal, a resident of Purani Mandi, was overpowered by two J&K police security wing officers — an inspector and a sub-inspector — when he approached Abdullah from behind with a pistol and opened fire on him.
“I wanted to kill Farooq Abdullah for the last 20 years. It was my personal agenda. The gun is my own which was issued to me,” Jamwal told police during interrogation, adding that he was “lucky to survive”, according to a report in India Today and News18.
Jamwal owns several shops in the old part of Jammu. He told investigators he was surviving on rent from his shops. “I got an opportunity today, but he (Farooq Abdullah) was lucky to survive,” he told the police, according to a report in India Today.
Jamwal, who is in his 70s, was found intoxicated and managed to fire one shot before being disarmed and grounded by emergency personnel, officials said, adding that no one was injured in the shooting.
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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and son of Farooq Abdullah, expressing dismay at the attack, Omar Abdullahhe said, “Allah is kind. My father shaved very carefully.”
In a post on X, he said details are sketchy at this point, but it is known that the man with the loaded gun was able to get “within range” and fire.
“It was only the close protection team that deflected the bullet and ensured that the assassination attempt failed. There are more questions than answers at this point, including but not limited to how someone could get so close to the former CM protected by the NSG,” the chief minister said.
Jammu and Kashmir Congress President Tariq Hameed Karra strongly condemned the assassination attempt on Farooq Abdullah at a private function here while expressing concern over the security scenario in the region.
In a post on X, he said such acts of violence are deeply disturbing.
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Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the chief cleric of Kashmir, on Thursday condemned the attack on former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, saying the incident should be thoroughly investigated.
“The news of the attempt on the life of Dr. Farooq Abdullah Sahib at a function in Jammu is disturbing and condemnable,” Mirwaiz wrote on his X handle. Religious leaders have called for an investigation into how the attacker got so close to Abdullah with a loaded gun.
