Kashmir-bound bus attacked in Haryana, motive disputed

A bus travelling from Delhi to Srinagar was damaged in a stone-and-brick attack near a dhaba in Haryana on Saturday night, October 17, leaving an elderly passenger injured. Haryana Police said a parking dispute led to the altercation, while the bus driver and owner described threats directed at the vehicle because it was registered in Jammu and Kashmir. The motive remains contested. The bus had stopped at Divine Star Dhaba in the Karnal district area near Nilokheri. Reports put the number of passengers at about 40. Police said stones and bricks damaged several windows and that the elderly passenger was hurt by broken glass. The vehicle resumed its journey to Srinagar. Bus owner Aadil Ahmad Bhat said four men first entered the bus and beat the driver, then returned on motorcycles and threw stones at it. He said four passengers were injured, including an elderly man struck on the nose. The driver, Waqar, said attackers called the bus a terrorist vehicle, objected to its Jammu and Kashmir registration and threatened those aboard. These accounts were reported by the owner and driver and have not been independently established in the supplied reports. Police gave a different...