Srinagar: National Conference (NC) president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday (March 11) escaped an assassination attempt in what his party has described as a major security lapse.

The J&K police have taken a suspect into custody who has been identified as Kamal Singh Jamwal, a resident of Purani Mandi in Jammu. A video showed him telling the investigators that he had been planning to kill Abdullah for 20 years.

A senior police official said that Abdullah, who has also served as a Union minister, was attending a wedding function in Jammu along with Surinder Choudhary, J&K’s deputy chief minister and Nasir Sogami, adviser to the J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah when the incident took place.

A video from a CCTV camera installed near the venue of the wedding at Royal Park in Greater Kailash area on the outskirts of Jammu shows Jamwal, the suspect, pulling out a weapon from his pocket and strutting towards Abdullah and his associates who seem to be leaving the function.

Jamwal can be seen knocking the head of Abdullah from behind with his revolver but failing to pull the trigger. Soon, he was overpowered by the security personnel. A second video showed Jamwal being thrashed by the party workers who attended the wedding in the presence of the deputy chief minister.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah said that one gunshot was fired by the assassin and the security personnel escorting his father team “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,” he said in a post on X.

An eyewitness and a National Conference worker who could not be immediately identified told reporters outside the venue that Abdullah and others had come to attend the marriage of the daughter of party’s legal cell president D.S. Chouhan.

“We were walking behind Abdullah when I saw him (Jamwal) knocking the revolver on doctor saheb’s (Abdullah’s) head. Security personnel pulled his hand away just in time and the shot was fired in the air. God has saved him, otherwise there were no police personnel at the spot,” the eyewitness said.

He claimed that Jamwal was associated with a Hindu rightwing outfit. “He is a sanghi. He works as a convenor of (hitherto unknown) Jagran Manch,” he said. The Wire could not immediately verify the claims.

Superintendent of police (Jammu South) Ajay Sharma said that the accused has been taken into custody and a .32 revolver which was used to fire at Abdullah was recovered from his possession.

“It was a licensed weapon. A case of attempt to murder case has been registered against him at Gangyal police station. Further investigations are underway,” Sharma said.

After being taken into custody, Jamwal was quizzed by police about the motive behind the failed assassination attempt. A video of the questioning which circulated on social media showed Jamwal sitting comfortably on a chair without any remorse while sharing details about himself.

“I have been trying to kill Farooq Abdullah for the last twenty years,” Jamwal can be heard telling the investigators, “It was my personal mission to kill him. Today I got the opportunity but he survived. I have a personal weapon which I used in the firing”.

The video also shows Jamwal, who was reportedly in an inebriated state at the time of the shooting, telling the investigators that he was invited to the wedding where the incident took place.

“I don’t work anywhere. I own some two to three shops that I have rented out. It is my only source of earning,” he told the investigators.

Expressing concern over the alleged security breach, J&K’s deputy chief minister Choudhary demanded an explanation from the police.

“When the former chief minister, deputy chief minister and the adviser (to J&K chief minister) are attending a function and a person enters the venue with a gun, one can imagine the security arrangements that have been made. It is a very serious security lapse,” he told reporters outside the venue.

The J&K police have not reacted to the allegations by the NC leaders.

Sogami said that Abdullah was safe, “Investigations are underway. It is too early to arrive at any conclusions. No one was hurt in the incident”.

J&K Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra posted on X: “Strongly condemn the shocking firing incident on former CM Farooq Abdullah saab and other senior leaders reported in Jammu today. Such acts of violence are deeply disturbing and raise serious concerns about the prevailing security scenario in the region.”

“The increasing criminalisation and lawlessness cannot be ignored. Those entrusted with maintaining law and order must be held accountable. The people deserve safety, stability, and a secure environment, and it is the responsibility of the administration to ensure that such incidents are not repeated," added Karra.

Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also condemned the attack while calling for a probe.

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