Jammu Close shave for Farooq Abdullah deputy CM as man opens fire shooter held

Jammu, Mar 11 (PTI) National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary had a narrow escape in an attack by a gunman at a marriage function here on Wednesday night, officials said.
The incident took place when Abdullah along with the deputy chief minister and chief minister’s advisor Nasir Aslam Wani were leaving the venue at posh Greater Kailash area in the outskirts of the city, the officials said.
The accused, identified as Kamal Singh Jamwal, a resident of Purani Mandi, was overpowered by two officers of security wing of J&K Police -- an inspector and a sub-inspector -- when he approached Abdullah from behind with a pistol and opened fire at him.
     Deputy CM Choudhary described the incident as a “security lapse”, while police said a detailed investigation is going on.
Jamwal, who is believed to be in his 70s, was found in an inebriated condition and managed to fire one shot before he was disarmed and grounded by the alert personnel, the officials said, adding no one was injured in the firing.
Expressing anguish over the attack, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, "Allah is kind. My father had a very close shave."
     In a post on X, he said the details are sketchy at the moment but what is known is that a man with a loaded pistol was able to get "within point blank range" and discharge a shot.
     "It was only the close protection team that deflected the shot & ensured that the assassination attempt failed. There are more questions than answers at the moment including but not limited to how someone was able to get this close to a Z+ NSG protected former CM," the chief minister said.
     According to the officials, Farooq Abdullah and Choudhary had come to greet party leader B S Chouhan on the marriage of his son and were at the venue for more than an hour.
     "There has been a firing incident using a licensed weapon at a marriage party where ex-CM JK Dr Farooq Abdullah was also present. It falls in JD (jurisdiction) of PS (Police station) Gangyal. Accused is arrested and detailed investigation is going on. There is no terror angle,” Superintendent of Police, city south, Ajay Sharma said in a post on X.
The deputy CM expressed concern over the incident and told reporters that you should ask the security and the police how such a major lapse happened.
     “It is a very serious security lapse. When the former chief minister, deputy chief minister and the advisor are present at a function, and if a person can enter inside with a gun, then you can imagine what the security arrangements were like,” he said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)