Blame radical Hindu outfits for Srinagar cleric's killing, Lashkar told scribe

SRINAGAR: The army on Saturday said it has intercepted a PoK-based Lashkar-e-Taiba spokesman's conversation with a Kashmiri journalist, asking him to plant a story about the hand of radical Hindu outfits in the killing of a moderate cleric in Srinagar on Friday.

A defence spokesman said Abdullah Gaznavi had asked the journalist to mislead people into believing that the Shiv Sena and the Bajrang Dal had triggered the blast that killed Maulana Showkat Ahmad Shah. But LeT condemned Shah's killing. "It is the handiwork of the activists of right-wing parties, including the Bajrang Dal and Abhinav Bharat. Indian forces and their agencies have perpetrated these acts," a local news agency quoted Gaznavi as saying.

LeT chief Wahid Kashmiri too condemned the killing, saying it was an attempt to divide Kashmiris. "The separatist leaders should remain united in this hour of grief and isolate the elements that are hell bent on creating a wedge among the people," the news agency quoted him as saying. "It is the responsibility of both factions of the Hurriyat to remove the black sheep. Those who claim to be champions of truth should come forward and identify the killers."