After Haryana, stone pelters attacked another Kashmir-bound passenger bus near Ludhiana in Punjab late Sunday night, triggering panic among travellers and raising fresh safety concerns.
This time, the attack happened as the bus passed through Doraha in Khanna around 11.00 pm.
Stone pelting damaged the window panes of the 40-seater luxury Volvo service, operated by the same tour and Travel Company, targeted near Karnal in Haryana on Saturday night. According to the bus driver, Ishfaq Ahmad, stones hit the running bus at four spots, damaging it. The fresh incident of stone pelting on a Srinagar-bound bus raised serious security concerns. However, no one was injured.
Soon after, a police team rushed to the spot, and police escorted the bus safely out of the area.
Khanna Superintendent of Police (Investigation) RK Yadav said police registered an FIR at the Doraha police station and are scanning CCTV footage from nearby dhabas, petrol pumps, and toll points to trace the miscreants.
The police are treating the case with extra seriousness because the bus belongs to the same transport company whose vehicle was attacked in Haryana’s Karnal on Saturday.
“Both incidents involve the same operator. We are probing whether there is a link between the two attacks,” Yadav said.
The police said the Doraha stretch of GT Road has witnessed similar incidents in the past, where trucks and buses have been pelted with stones, often by miscreants taking advantage of darkness and isolated spots.
Investigators are probing whether the attack was mischief, extortion, rivalry, or a targeted attempt.
The bus resumed its journey to Srinagar after a brief halt under police escort.
In Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference spokesman Imran Nabi Dar condemned the attack on a bus in Punjab and demanded exemplary action against the accused.
“Troubling news! Did the way the Haryana bus attackers were handled embolden more perpetrators of hate? This time Punjab,” Imran posted on X.
He said these were tolerant areas, and “now becoming rabid, anti-Kashmir, anti-Muslim hotspots.”
“Exemplary action must be taken against the accused,” he demanded.