The Army staged flag march in several towns in the districts of Kishtwar and Doda on Friday as tension mounted following last night’s killing of state BJP secretary Anil Parihar and his elder brother Ajit Parihar by terrorists in the Kishtwar town of Jammu.

Curfew was extended in Kishtwar and also imposed in Bhaderwah where communal tension was brewing.

The two policemen on security duty of the BJP leader, who was on the hit list of terrorists, have been arrested as they were not accompanying them when two terrorists shot at the heads of Anil and Ajit from a close range. They are being questioned about their absence from duty.

Reports said that prohibitory orders were imposed in the Doda town as a preventive measure.

“The situation is tense but under control. The army is continuously staging flag marches. There are no adverse reports from any part of the district,” Angrez Singh Rana, deputy commissioner of Kishtwar said.

The Inspector General of Police (Jammu), SD Singh Jamwal, reached Kishtwar and has been camping there to oversee the security scenario and also the investigations of the case.

Police and other security agencies have so far not got any clue about the killers except that they fled from the spot on a motorcycle.

The killing of the two indicates that various terrorist organisations are trying to revive militancy in Kishtwar that had in the past, remained a hotbed of terrorism with a large number of innocent killings.

The slain brothers were cremated this afternoon in Kishtwar where a large number of people from nearby towns and villages were present. Minister of state in PMO, Jitendera Singh, in whose constituency the area falls, reached the town and was present during the cremation.

Rana said that he had been advising political leaders to always move out with their security men.

A pall of gloom has descended on the town as Anil was popular not only among BJP circles but across different sections of the society. He is survived by his wife and two sons, one studying in class XII and another doing engineering. Ajit is survived by his wife and two children including a daughter who has completed her engineering.

Authorities had imposed curfew in Kishtwar Thursday night when crowds came out after the news of the killing of the BJP leader spread. They accused the police of laxity as a result of which terrorists got the opportunity to shoot Anil and his brother in the heart of the district town. Irate mobs pelted stones at the police and manhandled the senior superintendent of police, Rajinder Gupta.

Apprehending more trouble in the highly volatile Kishtwar district which has witnessed communal violence in the past, deputy commissioner Angrez Singh Rana imposed curfew in Kishtwar town and its surrounding areas as a precautionary measure.

In Chhatru and Paddar subdivisions, which form part of the hilly district, prohibitory orders banning assembly of four or more people have been imposed under Section 144 of CrPC.

There is no communal tension in the district in view of the killing of the BJP leader as he was having considerable support even among the local Muslims, said Congress MLA Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, who himself reached there to be present at the time of cremation.

State BJP chief, Ravinder Raina said it was unfortunate that the police failed to take steps for the safety of the slain party functionary although there were intelligence reports that some terrorists have reached Kishtwar from South Kashmir in view of the upcoming Panchayat elections.