The death of 8 passengers in snow avalanche sparked protest against Government of India in Karnah on Saturday. Pertinently, a vehicle (JK09-A 3249) with 7 passengers on board and three pedestrians were swept away when an avalanche hit at Sadhna Top Karnah, killing at least 8 persons including a couple.The rescue operation team has recovered 8 dead bodies so far while the search operation to locate one more missing person was in progress.If sources are to believed, a fifty year old Ghulam Nabi Bhat of Kalmona village of Kupwara was rescued alive during the operation.On Friday, a vehicle was buried under an avalanche at Sadhna Top and accordingly joint rescue operation team comprising Army, Police and SDRF with the help of locals had started operation to locate the missing persons.A police official said that the driver Zahoor Ahmed was out from his parked vehicle and he had a miraculous escape when the vehicle was swept away by avalanche. Yesterday, an eight- year-old boy, Suliman was also rescued shortly after the incident.An official said that a man was rescued alive from under the snow while eight bodies have been recovered so far.
He identified the deceased as Fazil Hussain son of Ghulam Sarwar Shah, Farid Hussain son of Muhammad Ali Shah, Chabi Begum wife of Farid Hussain Shah all residents of Chhumkut Karnah, Master Abdul Rashid Joo son of Abdul Majid, resident of Dildar Karnah, Nahida Akhtar daughter of Bashir Ahmed Khoja of Gundi Gujran, Shafqat Begum wife of Maqbool Hussain Shah of Gundi Saidan, Shakeela Begum wife of Abdul Rahim Parray and Muhammad Altaf son of Samundar Chek, both residents of of Chhumkut Karnah.Meanwhile, a massive protest erupted in Karnah against what they said callous attitude of Government of India towards tehsil Karnah. The protesters said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi despite being a political stalwart is unable to construct a 10 kilometer long tunnel.Eyewitnesses told news agency CNS that angry protesters raised anti-India slogans and asked the government of India to leave them if it is not interested in constructing tunnel near TP2. “The tunnel will connect us with Kashmir Valley whole year,” they said.The concerned legislator and PDP leader Raja Manzoor blamed India-Pakistan acronym for such incidents. “Geographically, we are connected with Pakistan and if there would have been no restrictions, Karnah people would find it easy to trade and travel to that part instead of other parts of Kashmir,” he said. (CNS)