Srinagar, Nov 2 (IANS): Former chief minister and NC president Farooq Abdullah on Saturday demanded an independent probe to find out the reason for the spurt in violence in J&K after the formation of an elected government here.

“I doubt why there wasn’t a spurt in gunfights before the government formation. There should be an independent probe to find out who is doing it,” he said.

He added that it must be found out whether some agency has been assigned the task of destabilising the Omar Abdullah-headed government.

He demanded that the terrorists in today’s Khanyar encounter should be arrested alive and not killed to find out who is trying to destabilise the elected government.

He said tourism was thriving and people were moving about doing their business and other normal activities of life till an elected government took office here.

There have been some deadly attacks in J&K during the last month. On October 20, two terrorists fired indiscriminately at a workers' camp of an infrastructure company in the Gagangir area of the Ganderbal district.

Seven people including six non-locals and a local doctor were killed in the Gagangir attack.

On October 24, terrorists ambushed a vehicle of the army at the Botapathri area of Gulmarg. Five people including three army soldiers and two civilian porters working for the army were killed in the Botapathri attack.

People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), an offshoot of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) took responsibility for the Botapathri attack.

Intelligence agencies believe that after successful, people participative Lok Sabha and legislative assent elections, handlers of terrorists across the border have become frustrated and they have now instructed the remaining terrorists in J&K to carry out terrorist attacks.

The Chief Minister, his council of ministers and the MLAs of the NC stayed away from the J&K foundation day celebrated on October 31 after the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019 was implemented and the erstwhile state bifurcated into two UTs of J&K and Ladakh.

Lt Governor took exception to the non-participation by the Chief Minister and his ministers in the UT’s foundation Day.

“This shows their dual character. They took oath under the Constitution of the country and they preferred to stay away from the UT’s foundation day celebrations. It is a fact that J&K is a UT and everybody must accept this reality,” he said