Srinagar, October 21
Unidentified gunmen shot dead a National Conference leader and former minister, Safdar Ali Beigh in his home-town, Anantnag, this afternoon.
According to the police Safdar Ali Beigh was shot at by some unidentified gunmen near a shop at Sarnal in Anantnag town at 2-50 p.m. this afternoon. He died on spot, while his PSO escaped with minor injuries. The shopkeeper, Bashir Ahmad, and a couple of persons who were near the minister also escaped unhurt, the police said.
The National Conference patron and former Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, NC president, Omar Abdullah and other senior party leaders have expressed shock and grief over the death of their party colleague.
Beigh, escorted by his PSO Javid Ahmad, was going out for shopping when militants, waiting outside his Sarnal residence, 60 km from here, fired at him from point blank range, official sources said.
The NC leader received four bullets, two each on head and chest.
The militants immediately fled the scene and so far no outfit has claimed responsibility for the killing.
Beigh, a nephew of former Deputy Chief Minister Mirza Afzal Beigh, was elected to the state Assembly in 1996 and became Minister of State for Revenue in the Farooq Abdullah government.
Terming the killing as unfortunate and highly condemnable, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed said violence and killing of civilians and political activists did not go along with the winds of reconciliation and peace currently blowing through the sub-continent.
The National Conference in a statement demanded a high-level inquiry into Beigh’s killing.
