The police personnel accompanying Engineer Rashid’s cavalcade remained a mute spectator to the attack which continued for nearly ten minutes. The police personnel accompanying Engineer Rashid’s cavalcade remained a mute spectator to the attack which continued for nearly ten minutes.

Engineer Abdul Rashid, the Independent MLA from Jammu and Kashmir’s Lolab area, on Wednesday received minor injuries in an attack on his vehicle by some Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists on the outskirts of Bhaderwah town in Doda district. The legislator’s PRO also sustained some minor injuries.

The legislator was on his way to Doda town to address a rally when his vehicle was blocked by VHP activists at Domail around 1.30 pm. Holding black flags and raising slogans against him for hurting their religious sentiments by organising a beef party in Srinagar last month, the group stopped his cavalcade and someone in the crowd threw ink and mobil oil on his vehicle.

The activists also pelted stones, smashing the window panes and the front wind screen of his SUV. The MLA and his PRO sustained minor injuries.

While the MLA claimed that the police acted as mere spectators and didn’t stop the protesters, Bhaderwah Sub Divisional Police Officer Sajjad Khan said he had requested the MLA to sit in a bullet proof car, as there was apprehension of protests en route. “However, he did not agree and started shouting at us instead,” the police officer said.

The police have, however, registered a case and have started looking for the assailants.

This was the MLA’s first visit to Chenab Valley region since communal clashes that took place during Eid in 2013. The MLA was then denied entry into Kishtwar from the Valley via Simpthon Top and was made to return from Chatroo. Three people were killed and over 80 injured in clashes between Hindus and Muslims in the town on August 9, 2013. Many cases of arson were also reported.

This time, the MLA had been touring the Chenab Valley for the last two days and had visited Kishtwar, where BJP and RSS workers had held a demonstration against him.

While the MLA said he hadn’t said anything which could hurt sentiments of any community, VHP’s district president Satish Kotwal said the Independent MLA, after hosting a beef party in Srinagar, now wanted to disturb the congenial atmosphere of Doda district.

“We will not tolerate it at any cost. Our activists threw ink on him and showed him black flags,” Kotwal told the media, accusing Rashid of being a “mischief monger”.

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