November 1, 2018, when Parihar brothers were killed in cold blood by Islamist terrorists in Kishtwar of J&K

1st November, 2018, BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajeet Parihar were killed by terrorists in cold blood in communally sensitive Kishtwar district of J&K near their home.

The attack had taken place at Tapal Gali, a narrow lane, close to the residence of Parihar brothers. Their killings had sparked a massive outrage across the erstwhile state which prompted the authorities to clamp curfew in the district.

Anil Parihar (53) was BJP State Secretary while his brother Ajeet (55)

was a government employee and owned a stationary shop there. Both the brothers were coming home after closing down the shop in the evening at around 8 pm when the waiting terrorists opened fire on them, targeting their upper body and head. Both succumbed to the injuries in the hospital.

Initially, a case was registered at J&K Police Station, Kishtwar and subsequently it was taken over by National Investigation Agency(NIA). During the investigation, accused Nisar Ahmed Sheikh, Nishad Ahmed Butt and Azad Hussain Bagwan, all residents of Kishtwar were arrested in November 2019..

These three accused had provided logistic support to the three terrorists—Osama-bin-Javid, Haroon Abbas Wani and Zahid Hussain, who had killed the Parihar brothers.

With these arrests it came to fore that Parihar brother’s assassination was a part of a larger conspiracy and the motive behind the killings was to revive terrorism in the Chenab valley which was almost declared terror free by the authorities.

Pertains to mention here that Osama-bin-Javid, Haroon Abbas Wani and Zahid Hussain were killed during different encounters that took place between the Hizbul Mujahideen cadres and security forces in Ramban and Doda districts in September 2019 and January 2020.