Bajrang Dal to hold nationwide protest against J&K terror attack

New Delhi: The Bajrang Dal will hold a nationwide protest on Wednesday against a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi in which nine persons, including a two-year old, were killed and several others were left injured, a senior Vishva Hindu Parishad functionary said on Tuesday.

Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological fountainhead.

Condemning the incident, VHP general secretary (organisation) Milind Parande said, “It was a cowardly attack by Islamic terrorists backed by Pakistan.” “The VHP’s youth wing Bajrang Dal has decided to burn effigy of Islamic terrorism across the country tomorrow (Wednesday) and submit a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu through respective district collectors, urging her to ensure strict action against the perpetrators,” he said.

Nine persons, including a two-year-old, were killed and several others injured on Sunday when the terrorists opened fire at the 53-seater bus carrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.

The bus was en route from the Shiv Khori temple to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra near Teryath village in the Poni area when the incident took place.

The VHP leader paid tribute to the pilgrims, who were killed in the terror attack and wished for the speedy recovery of those left injured in the incident.

Extensive efforts to track down the terrorists involved in the attack on pilgrims in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district continued on Tuesday, with 11 teams of security personnel working on the ground and a multi-directional cordon laid around the Poni-Treyath belt, officials said.

Security forces have sounded a high alert in Jammu and Rajouri districts and intensified checking and frisking in the belt following the terror attack that left nine dead and 41 injured, they said.

According to the officials, more than 20 people have been picked up for questioning.