The terrorist attack at a workers camp at Ganderbal in Kashmir,which left seven men of the workforce dead on Sunday evening, is being seen as also an attempt of Pakistan -backed terrorists to derail construction of the militarily strategic Z-Morh tunnel that is being constructed to provide all weather road connectivity in Ladakh to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China and Line of Control (LOC) with Pakistan occupied J&K.
Doctor Shahnawaz and the tunnel designer Shashi Abrol, who were among those killed, belonged to the Budgam district of Kashmir and the Jammu city, respectively. It was not a targeted attack at workers belonging to a particular community, but terrorists after entering the sprawling complex indiscriminately fired from their automatic weapons killing the workforce belonging to Kashmir, Jammu, Punjab, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. The five injured persons also belong to different regions.
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the ministry of road transport and highways have undertaken the job to build tunnels below the high passes to provide all weather road connectivity to Ladakh from Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh due to the bad experience during the Kargil war between India and Pakistan in the winters of 1999 when the roads to Ladakh were blocked with snow and the airway was the only means to fly troops, arms and ammunition to the frontier region.
Named after the Z-shaped road stretch at an altitude of 8500 feet, the 6.5 kms long tunnel is being constructed to bypass the heavy amount of snow and avalanches during the winters. Nitin Gadkari, road transport and highways minister, had recently visited the spot to examine the pace of work on the tunnel. Significance of the tunnel is that it will also link with the road to the under-construction strategic Zojila tunnel that will provide speedy connectivity towards Drass in Kargil that was the action spot during the 1999 war.
It is learnt that the intelligence agencies had inputs that the terrorists might try to attack the developmental works going on in Jammu and Kashmir. It is pertinent to mention here that in many recent attacks, terrorists were found having Chinese grenades and pistols. Preliminary reports said that after entering the complex, a group of atleast three terrorists sprayed bullets at the workforce. They also set fire to the vehicles parked in the area to block mobility of the injured people. The workers camp was attacked first followed by the officers area and then the main office complex. The terrorists escaped after attacking the workers.
A 4-member team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) led by an SP has reached the spot and have lifted bullet shells and other material for further examination. A pall of gloom prevailed at the tunnel designer Shashi Abrol’s house in Jammu where a large number of relatives and friends gathered to console the family. His wife, who had observed the Karvachauth fast for the long life of her husband, was inconsolable after she received the news of her husband’s killing. Their minor daughter was also constantly weeping. Similar was the scene at the residence of Doctor Shahnawaz at whose Budgam residence hundreds of people gathered to offer condolences to the family.