Shoe hurled at Omar Abdullah
By: Bilal Bashir Bhat
Srinagar: A suspended Jammu and Kashmir head constable Sunday hurled a shoe at Omar Abdullah during the Independence Day function here but an 
unfazed chief minister remarked it was better to throw shoes than stones.
Abdullah, who was taking salute from contingents of marching security personnel
at the Bakshi Stadium in the heart of Srinagar, did not stir when Abdul Ahad Jan threw the brown shoe from behind. It landed on the grassy ground in Abdullah’s front, without grazing anyone.
Later, in a clear reference to unending stone attacks on security forces in the Kashmir Valley, Abdullah said light-heartedly that it was better to throw shoes instead of stones as this would not hurt anybody.
‘This is a better way of showing protest,’ Abdullah said in Urdu.
But the incident rattled the chief minister’s security personnel, who quickly pounced on Jan and dragged him away. The man, in civilian dress, was arrested and later branded mentally unsound.
‘Abdul Ahad Jan is a suspended head constable belonging to (south Kashmir’s) Kulgam district who already has a criminal case pending against him,’ a police officer said.
Police said Jan was also involved in a case of claiming fake ex-gratia compensation from the government.
But no one explained how a man suspended from the police force could sneak into the highly-secured stadium.
Jan, who had been seated in the VIP enclosure, tried to wave a black flag when he was taken away.
The shoe incident marred the otherwise peaceful Independence Day celebrations in Srinagar and across the state where militants usually tend to target official Indian functions.
However, a separatist-called shutdown again paralyzed life across the Muslim-majority valley, hub of a separatist campaign that has left thousands dead since 1989.
Authorities had initially described the shoe attacker as an assistant sub-inspector of police.
The main parade continued despite the flutter in the VIP gallery.
unfazed chief minister remarked it was better to throw shoes than stones.Abdullah, who was taking salute from contingents of marching security personnel
at the Bakshi Stadium in the heart of Srinagar, did not stir when Abdul Ahad Jan threw the brown shoe from behind. It landed on the grassy ground in Abdullah’s front, without grazing anyone.Later, in a clear reference to unending stone attacks on security forces in the Kashmir Valley, Abdullah said light-heartedly that it was better to throw shoes instead of stones as this would not hurt anybody.
‘This is a better way of showing protest,’ Abdullah said in Urdu.
But the incident rattled the chief minister’s security personnel, who quickly pounced on Jan and dragged him away. The man, in civilian dress, was arrested and later branded mentally unsound.
‘Abdul Ahad Jan is a suspended head constable belonging to (south Kashmir’s) Kulgam district who already has a criminal case pending against him,’ a police officer said.
Police said Jan was also involved in a case of claiming fake ex-gratia compensation from the government.
But no one explained how a man suspended from the police force could sneak into the highly-secured stadium.
Jan, who had been seated in the VIP enclosure, tried to wave a black flag when he was taken away.
The shoe incident marred the otherwise peaceful Independence Day celebrations in Srinagar and across the state where militants usually tend to target official Indian functions.
However, a separatist-called shutdown again paralyzed life across the Muslim-majority valley, hub of a separatist campaign that has left thousands dead since 1989.
Authorities had initially described the shoe attacker as an assistant sub-inspector of police.
The main parade continued despite the flutter in the VIP gallery.
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