JAMMU/SRINAGAR : National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and J&K deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary escaped unhurt Wednesday evening after a man with a gun barged into a wedding venue in Jammu’s Greater Kailash and fired a gunshot before he was overpowered.“We are both safe but it is now police’s responsibility to say how it happened,” Choudhary told reporters, terming the attack “a big security lapse”. Sources identified the arrested assailant as Kamal Singh Jamwal, a resident of Jammu. He is being questioned by the police to ascertain the motive behind the attack, they said.“It was a function where a former chief minister, a current deputy CM and the CM’s adviser were present and a person could enter with a gun. You can understand how much security there was,” Choudhary said.CM Omar Abdullah said his father “had a very close shave”. In a post on X, he wrote, “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 and 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.”Omar’s adviser Nasir Aslam Wani, who was witness to how the episode unravelled, said the arrested assailant clearly came in with the intention of targeting Farooq. “He tried to fire at Farooq sahib from a revolver. I don’t want to draw any conclusions yet. It is by God’s grace that he was saved. He is fine and in good spirits,” Wani told TOI.
