Lone, 70, was rushed to the Soura Medical Institute where he was declared "brought dead". He was shot several times from close range in the chest and stomach. His body had been riddled with eight bullets. A bodyguard of Lone, Mushtaq Ahmed, was also killed and another seriously injured in the incident. At least seven other people were injured in the attack.

‘‘There is no question the ISI is involved here’’, said a senior Indian official who knew Lone well. ‘‘He was the only separatist leader who has been taking on Pakistan’’.

Assassinations in Kashmir have always served to eliminate alternative power centres. In the early years of militancy, Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq was assassinated by a faction of the Hizbul Mujahideen. The current spate of violence — Kaluchak, and now Lone’s killing — is clearly aimed at disrupting the forthcoming Assembly election. It is also a warning to the young Mirwaiz, Omar Farooq.

Though Lone, an MLA till 1986 and a former Kashmir minister, was reluctant to contest as he felt the government had not come up with a package to redress the grievances of Kashmiris, the Centre hoped to get him to break ranks with the Hurriyat.

Caught between the government’s unrealistic expectations of him and the militants’ growing sense of betrayal, Lone grew vulnerable by the day. His assassination in the current volatile climate did not come as a total surprise.The irony is that both the Central and State governments were so lax about his security. Last November, shots were fired at his house but his security detail was actually reduced. And on March 31, a Shiv Sena activist in Jammu assaulted the frail leader before TV cameras as Kashmir policemen stood around laughing. Shocked by the killing, the Hurriyat called a bandh which met with good success. The Hurriyat also demanded a judicial probe into the killing of Lone and security for the slain leader’s family members. A resolution passed at an emergency meeting of the Hurriyat executive in Srinagar said Lone’s death was a tragedy for the 23-party amalgam and the people of Kashmir and his death had created a vacuum that would be difficult to fill. The conglomerate also blamed Indian agencies for his killing.

In Pakistan, the United Jehad Council alleged that Indian agencies were behind Lone’s death. "It is a big tragedy, we express our sorrow and grief," a UJC spokesman said in Muzaffarabad, capital of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The Prime Minister who was greeted by the news of the killing of Lone on arrival in Jammu, as well as Home Minister L.K. Advani regretted the gunning down of the leader and accused Pakistan of making attempts to destroy peace. Officials saw a clear link between the incident and the forthcoming elections in the State.