Road In Srinagar To Be Named After Kashmiri Pandit Businessman ML Bindroo Who Was Shot Dead By Terrorists

A day after ML Bindroo, owner of Bindroo Medicate, was shot dead by terrorists, a road in Srinagar is being named after him.

Srinagar Muncipal Corporation (SMC) Mayor Juanid Mattoo in a tweet said the road named after Bindroo is a tribute to his contributions to the society.

"The road from Haft Chinar Chowk to Jehangir Chowk (where Bindroo Medicate is located) will be named Shaheed Makhan Lal Bindroo Road as a tribute to his contributions to society.

A resolution to this effect will be formally proposed in the SMC General Council," Junaid Mattoo, Mayor Srinagar Muncipal Corporation tweeted.

Notably, Makhan Lal Bindroo was a respected and trusted man for all those who bought medicines from his shop, 'Bindroo Madicate' near the Iqbal Park in Srinagar city.

When the majority of Bindroo's community including his relatives and friends migrated out of the valley in early 1990s, Bindroo stood his ground.

He continued to sell medicines at his shop which was then located at the top end of the Hari Singh High street in Srinagar.

There was a security force bunker some distance away from Bindroo's shop. Militants hurled grenades and fired at the bunker more than a dozen times during militancy.

Bindroo remained undeterred. He was a common Kashmiri who was living a normal life without messing around with anything else.

Long years of having lived and survived normally, added to Bindroo's confidence that he had nothing to fear.

He shifted his business to a bigger shop outside the Iqbal Park in Srinagar. His wife started assisting him during peak hours to dispense medicine to the needy.

His doctor son had also set up a clinic in the first floor of the same shop where he treated patients.

It was a rather dull, sleepy autumn Tuesday evening when Bindroo was behind his counter with hardly a customer around. Terrorists entered the shop and fired at him from close range.

Doctors at the hospital said he had sustained four critical bullet wounds and had died en route to the hospital. Bindroo's murder is no ordinary revenge killing.

This brazen act of terrorism has occurred at a time Awhen the government of India has announced an ambitious plan to retrieve the properties of Kashmiri Pandits who had sold these properties in distress while fleeing the Valley.

Gunmen, whose identity was not immediately known but are widely thought to be the separatist militants, spread a wave of terror across the Kashmir valley with three back-to-back civilian killings in 80 minutes on Tuesday evening.

In two separately issued statements, purportedly the spokespersons of two terror outfits--'The Resistance Front' (TRF) and 'Freedom Seekers of Kashmir' (FSK)--claimed that the cadres of their organisations had planned and executed the three attacks. According to the Police and the security forces, TRF is a front for the formidable jihadist organisation Lashkar-e-Tayyiba "so as to lend local and indigenous colour to a jihadist movement".

With IANS Inputs