New Delhi: Nearly everyone above the age of 45 in Jammu’s old city areas – Link Road, Purani Mandi, Kacchi Chawni, Panjtirhi, Mubarak Mandi, Jain Bazaar – has a story to tell about Kamal Singh Jamwal, the 63-year-old who tried to assassinate former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah at a wedding function on Wednesday (March 11).But nothing sums it up better than this one from a senior journalist who, like many others, spoke to this reporter on the condition of anonymity, when reached out for a comment to describe Jamwal: “He is a post-graduate of the WhatsApp University; always ready to pick up quarrels with anybody and everybody over issues like Kashmir versus Jammu; BJP versus Congress; India versus Pakistan, Hindu versus Muslims. The reason I say post-graduate is because his indoctrination is complete. During discussions, he often used to cite unverified and fake information, much of it floating around on social media.”Found in an inebriated state, Jamwal was arrested yesterday and remains in custody after he pulled out a gun and tried to shoot the National Conference patriarch when he was leaving the wedding function. The former Chief Minister was accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary and Advisor to Chief Minister Nasir Aslam Wani.He was a guest at the wedding from the groom’s side. The bride’s father is senior advocate D.S. Chouhan Unrepentant, Jamwal told the media and the police that he had wanted to kill Farooq for 20 years and today, when he got the chance, he tried to do so but failed.Asked for his motive, he said, “Mera apna maqsad hai (I have my own reason).”To a question about his job, he replied, “I don’t do anything. My source of income is from the rent that I get from the 2-3 shops that I own.”The shops that he was referring to are located in the crowded Purani Mandi area of the old city.A person present at the marriage function who witnessed the attack said that even before the incident, Jamwal was heard questioning the need to invite Farooq and others from the Valley to the marriage. “This isn’t the first time he has shown his aversion to Kashmiri politicians. At the recent marriage function of a BJP leader’s son in Jammu, he started a high-decibel quarrel with some other guests over the fact that Jammu is being run by Kashmiri leaders. One could see he was getting angry and that is why people normally avoided him. Even though I know him, I try to keep my distance from him,” this person said. When asked to comment on his political links, if any, a businessman from the Purani Mandi area said, “Earlier, he was associated with the Panthers Party of late Bhim Singh. But over the last two decades, he got drawn into the RSS circles. He became a rabble-rouser, always ready to intervene in communally-divisive discourse. Recently, when some of us were talking, he joined the discussion and said instead of throwing stones (at Kashmiri leaders), time had come to use stronger methods. Needless to say, almost all of us walked away. But, the incident yesterday doesn’t surprise me. One could sense that he was itching to do something like this.”Another local businessman described him as “unstable, mentally immature”. This businessman recalled that Jamwal was in the forefront – though not too well recognised – of several agitations like the Amarnath Yatra stir and the more recent Mata Vaishnu Devi University MBBS Admission controversy.“He kept on telling us he wanted to go beyond stone-throwing to something more substantial. However, we took his words as the words of a person who is angry with everything and everybody around him for his own failures. We never expected that he would go to this extent,” the businessman said.The senior journalist quoted above also said that Jamwal was remotely related to a former senior police officer.“But, due to his extreme views, very few people want to make their relationship with him too well known. Even when they invite him to weddings and family functions, the hope is he will not create any tension,” the journalist, who has known him for almost four decades, said.