India-Kashmir-Laborers
The grenade attack in Srinagar that claimed five civilian lives and left another 30 injured has drawn widespread condemnation from social, political, militant and separatists organizations which have described it as an act of terror.
The blast has sent a wave of anger through civil society, with all sections expressing concern at the incident.
Syed Ali Geelani of the Hurriyat Conference has described the blast as the worst example of terrorism aimed at stoking communal passions in the state and creating an atmosphere of fear.
"Such incidents are carried out at the behest of Indian agencies, and those involved in them must be hanged," a spokesman for the Geelani said, demanding an investigation into the blast.
The premier Kashmiri militant group, the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, too has condemned the attack, saying that such actions were being carried out by Indian agencies to malign militant groups.
Hizb spokesman, Junaid-ul-Haq, warned that those involved must desist from such acts.
"After the casualties suffered by the army in the Narbal blast, it (the army) had threatened to seek revenge, and the blasts in Srinagar and Gulmarg smack of vendetta and vengeance," he said.
The Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat Conference, too, has strongly condemned the attack and expressed regret at the loss of life.
"No pro-movement force can ever carry out such an act. This is brazen terrorism which we strongly condemn," a spokesman for the Mirwaiz said.
Condemnations have also poured in from the pro-India camp, with PDP leader, Mahbooba Mufti, National Conference president, Omar Abdullah, state Congress president, Prof Saifuddin Soz, CPI(M) leader, Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami, and the head of the Democratic Party, Ghulam Hassan Mir, calling for heavy punishment for those involved in the Batmalu attack.
A PDP Spokesman said that such incidents only add up to the miseries of the common people.
He added that violence cannot lead to any solution and the gruesome act which consumed the five precious lives Friday is highly condemnable.
Describing the blast as a most inhuman and barbaric terrorist' act, Governor N N Vohra said that it shows to what extent the perpetrators of violence can go.
"This lunatic act of violence has not even spared innocent children", he added.
In a gruesome incident a woman and her four young children were killed, and her husband injured along with thirty others in a deadly grenade explosion in the crowded Batmalu bus stand Thursday afternoon.
The grenade attack took place at around 12:10 p.m. when a large number of laborers from various Indian states were waiting for buses to Jammu.
The senior superintendent of police, Syed Afhad-ul-Mujtaba, rubbished reports that Hindu pilgrims were the target of the attack.
He said that it was the first attack on non-Kashmiri laborers in more than two years.
In June 2006, 9 Nepali laborers were shot dead in Kulgam.
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