High drama at Jamia Masjid: Insas snatched back from militants

2 cops injured in scuffle but residents help Police to disarm ultras

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Aug 24: In a wild goose chase, residents and shopkeepers of downtown Srinagar today overpowered two unidentified militants and snatched away from them an automatic rifle that they had earlier snatched away from a Policeman.

Informed sources revealed to Early Times that minutes after the Friday congregational prayers concluded at Jamia Masjid, two unidentified militants attacked Constable Nazir Ahmad of IRP 2^nd Bn at sentry post No: 4 of the mosque while hitting his head with a pistol. As the constable collapsed, they snatched away his Insas rifle and began running away in the direction of Bohri Kadal Chowk. Other guards at the post raised an alarm and began chasing the duo. They were soon joined by about a dozen of residents and shopkeepers in chasing the militants.

Finally the high voltage drama concluded into its climax at a spot close to Bohri Kadal Chowk on Nallah Maar Road that passes through middle of the densely populated downtown. Eyewitnesses said that the chasers pounced upon the duo when the militants were trying to board an auto-rickshaw. Constable Ali Mohammad captured one of the militants and snatched away from him Constable Nazir’s Insas rifle. Another militant attempted to fire upon the chasers but suddenly his pistol got jammed. It was snatched away from the militant but its magazine could not be traced. Three pistol rounds were later recovered from the spot and one round was found stuck in the Chinese pistol’s chamber.

Additional Director General, Armed Police and Law & Order, K Rajendra Kumar, told Early Times that one Constable sustained minor injuries in the initial militant attack. However, eyewitnesses maintained that two Policemen, namely Nazir Ahmad and Ali Mohammad, sustained injuries in their head and forehead respectively at the first and last spot. They were later rushed to SKIMS for medical examination and treatment and discharged late this evening.

Rajendra confirmed that the Police guards, with the help of residents and shopkeepers, chased away the militants, overpowered them and snatched away the injured Constable’s service rifle (Insas) and a Chinese pistol from them. Both weapons were handed over to Police. Rajendra said that he himself rushed to the spot and encouraged the guards with a reward and word of appreciation and gratitude to the residents and shopkeepers who helped Police overpower the militants and recover the rifle. He said that the auto-rickshaw, being used to flee from the spot, turned turtle in the scuffle and the militants escaped but left behind their own Chinese pistol. He said that both the weapons were now in possession of Police.

Rajendra said that as many as 18 armed police guards stood deployed on the four sentry posts for protection of Jamia Masjid and those participating in the congregational prayers there. He said that neither of the two militants had been identified immediately but Police agencies were on job to identify and arrest them with the help of technology and human intelligence.

Meanwhile, authoritative sources said that Srinagar District Police had succeeded in obtaining more information about the detained Kashmir Islamic Movement Chief Abdul Rashid Shigan alias Omar Mukhtar’s group that had allegedly planned and carried out over a dozen guerrilla strikes in the capital city in the last 18 months. Some important arrests and recovery of more weapons was expected in the next 48 hours. However, according to sources, none of the politicians or government officials has surfaced in the guerrilla network so far.

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Terror attacks allegedly planned and executed by Abdul Rashid Shigan alias Omar Mukhtar alias Gen Usman, detained chief of Kashmir Islamic Movement, who was arrested on 20-08-2012

1	04-01-2011	Fired upon then SHO Batmaloo (presently SHO Ram Munshi Bagh) Inspector Nazir Ahmed near Tengpora, left him injured.
2	29-06-2011	Shot dead Inspector Bashir Ahmad of J&K Police Telecommunication Wing in Bemina area
3	02-12-2011	Shot dead NC’s Block President Ghulam Mohammad Lone at Nattipora, Srinagar
4	11-12-2011	Fired upon ancestral house of Minister of Law Ali Mohammad Sagar at Zaldagar and shot dead his his PSO SgCt Gulzar Ahmad
5	24-12-2011	Shot dead NC worker Bashir Ahmad at Dhobi Mohalla, Batmaloo
6	09-03-2012	Fired upon former Director Information Farooq Reenzu’s PSO, Constable Afroz Hussain, and left him injured at Saraibala shrine.
7	17-03-2012	Fired upon 80-year-old Pir Jalal-ud-din and left him injured near Batmaloo Sahab shrine
8	20-04-2012	Shot dead ASI Sukhpal Singh at Darishkadal, near Safakadal
9	30-05-2012	Fired upon a contingent of CRPF 32 Bn at Victory Crossing Khanyar and left seven personnel injured
10	28-06-2012	Fired rifle grenades on Army installation at Tatoo Ground, Batmaloo
11	18-07-2012	Fired rifle grenades on Civil Secretariat Srinagar
12	10-08-2012	Shot dead retired Dy SP Abdul Hamid Bhat at a mosque in Firdausabad, Batmaloo

Source: J&K Police

Reinstated by High Court, SSP’s PSO killed 4 cops, 2 NC workers

Srinagar Police claims to have solved all 13 terror attacks in capital; cop-killer cop, 2 others arrested, arms seized

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Aug 21: In a spectacular achievement, Srinagar District Police today claimed to have solved all thirteen terror attacks of the last 18 months in the capital city with the arrest of three militants of Harkatul Mujahideen who, incredibly, included the Personal Security Officer (PSO) of a Senior Superintendent of Police. Arms and ammunitions seized at the residence of the detained constable of the Security Wing of J&K Police include two AK-47 rifles, one Kirankov rifle, 4 Chinese pistols and a huge quantity of ammunition, IEDs and grenades.

IGP Kashmir, S M Sahai, made revelation of the second Police-militant nexus at a crowded news conference this afternoon when he disclosed that a constable of the Security Wing of J&K Police, namely Abdul Rashid Shigan S/o Abdul Ahad Shigan R/o Lachhmanpora, Batmaloo, had been found kingpin of a Harkatul Mujahideen guerrilla group that had carried out as many as 13 terror strikes in Srinagar in the last 18 months.

IGP Sahai disclosed that Shigan, who was currently posted as PSO to SSP Bandipore, Bashir Ahmad Khan, had been arrested on Monday alongwith two of his close associates, namely Imtiyaz Ahmad Gojri alias Amir S/o late Ghulam Qadir Gojri R/o Nowakadal, Srinagar. Mr Sahai said that the prize catch Abdul Rashid Shigan had been operating under code-names of Maulvi and Omar Mukhtar. He said that a sizable quantity of arms and ammunition seized at Omar Mukhtar’s residential house in Batmaloo-Tengpora area included one ultra sophisticated Kirankov rifle, two AK-47 rifles, four Chinese pistols, two Kenwood radio sets, two UBGL throwers, 13 UBGL grenades as also a number of hand grenades, IEDs and detonators. The seizure also included two crash helmets and a lady’s hair wig.

Thirteen cases, claimed to have been solved with the arrest of the three militants, include high profile attacks on three ruling national Conference (NC) functionaries including Minister of Law and Rural Development, Ali Mohammad Sagar, in which one constable had died. According to the details provided by Sahai, Omar Mukhtar and his group had also gunned down retired Dy SP Abdul Hamid Bhat of Firdausabad Batmaloo on 10-08-2012, NC’s Block President of Nattipora, Ghulam Mohammad Lone, on 2-12-2011, ASI Sukhpal Singh at Safakadal on 20-4-2012, NC worker Bashir Ahmed of Dhobi Mohalla Batmaloo on 24-12-2011 and Inspector of Police Telecommunication Wing, Bashir Ahmad, at Bemina on 29-6-2011.

Well placed and informed sources in J&K Police later disclosed to Early Times that men of different Police Stations in Srinagar, in coordination with Electronic Surveillance Unit (ESU), worked hard for the last several weeks and finally got the breakthrough in all the 13 terror attacks of the last 19 months on Sunday.

According to the details exclusively accessed by this newspaper, Police put its act together immediately after retired Dy SP Abdul Hamid Bhat was gunned down in broad daylight in close vicinity of his home when he was coming out of a mosque on Friday, August 10^th. Sources said that DGP Ashok Prasad took an extremely serious notice of the former Dy SP’s killing that was the first Police casualty since the new DGP took over on July 23^rd last.

Sources said that Police and ESU scanned thousands of call detail records of over 500 mobile and landline phones in the capital city but failed to get any inkling of the militants carrying out the series of attacks. Finally, the investigators zeroed in on half-a-dozen SIM cards which had been used in particular areas for communication including threats and statements delivered on mediapersons. Voice samples were intercepted, recorded and analyzed. With the combination of technology and human intelligence, top wanted Omar Mukhtar was identified among a group of three suspects whose group photograph Police managed to collect from its meticulously planned sources.

It was only late on Sunday last that a team, working under personal supervision of SSP Srinagar and DIG Central Kashmir succeeded in identifying Omar Mukhtar as none other than Abdul Rashid Shigan of Lachhmanpora, a constable of IRP 11^th Bn, posted as PSO to SSP Bandipore Bashir Ahmad Khan. It was observed that Shigan alias Omar Mukhtar had remained attached as PSO to SSP Bashir Khan’s wife and two daughters as his day location was invariably Kashmir University area. SSP’s residence is situated behind the University campus in Sadarbal area of Hazratbal. Shigan’s night locations were invariably Batmaloo Tengpora area.

Sources revealed that early in the morning on the day of Eid-ul-Fitr on Monday, SSP Srinagar, Ashiq Bukhari, contacted Commanding Officer of IRP 11^th Bn (Security) and requested him to provide 300 men, including Constable Abdul Rashid Shigan, for duty at the congregational prayers at Eidgah. When the deployment reported for duty, SSP Bukhari picked up Constable Shigan. He was subjected to sustained interrogation during which he spilled the beans and admitted that he had been operating under code-names of Maulvi and Omar Mukhtar and had planned and executed all the 13 terror attacks in Srinagar, alongwith his associates, from January 2011 to 10-8-2012.

On the basis of Shigan’s disclosures, Police picked up his associate militant, Imtiyaz Ahmad Gojri of Nawakadal from a chicken feed dealer’s shop at Karan Nagar when he was going to perform prayers at a mosque. Later, third member of the group, Manzoor Ahmed Wani of Nattipora, was also taken into custody. Thereafter, Police conducted a raid on Shigan’s house at Lachhmanpora, Batmaloo, and recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition. Shigan, operating under code-name of Omar Mukhtar, had claimed responsibility of almost all the thirteen terror strikes on behalf of an unknown outfit, Kashmir Islamic Movement.

During the course of the investigation, it became clear that Abdul Rashid Shigan was an active militant of Harkatul Mujahideen outfit until 1998. Despite being a militant, he parted with bribe money of Rs 25,000 and got himself recruited as a Constable in J&K Armed police. However, in a couple of years, he surfaced as a militant. Police recovered a pistol and some ammunition from his residence. He was detained first under section 7/25 Indian Arms Act at Police Station Saddar and later under Public Safety Act. However, J&K High Court not only quashed his detention orders and set him free but also directed the Government to reinstate him as Constable in J&K Police.

Since 2007, he remained posted in Security Wing and lastly remained attached to SSP Bandipore, Bashir Ahmad Khan, as PSO. SSP attached him to his wife, reportedly a government employee, and two of his daughters. Sources clarified that neither SSP nor his family members had ever suspected Shigan as being an active militant or chief of the newfound group Kashmir Islamic Movement. Police are still investigating if there was any link between Shigan and assassination of a former militant of Hizbul Mujahideen, Ghulam Hassan Mir alias Shabnam of Tral, who was gunned down earlier this year yards away from SSP Khan’s house in Sadarbal area of Hazratbal.

Sources said that interrogation of the three detained militants and investigation into the 13 terror strikes was still underway and a number of Omar Mukhtar’s associates would be arrested soon. They said that Omar Mukhtar was directly in touch with his handlers in Pakistan. He revealed to his interrogators that in most of the strikes, he had carried his Kirankov rifle in a laptop bag. On August 10^th too, he took out his Kirankov from his laptop bag at Firdausabad mosque entrance and gunned down retired Dy SP Abdul Hamid Bhat in point blank range.

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Terror attacks allegedly planned and executed by Abdul Rashid Shigan alias Omar Mukhtar, detained chief of Kashmir Islamic Movement.

1	04-01-2011	Fired upon then SHO Batmaloo (presently SHO Ram Munshi Bagh) Inspector Bashir Ahmed near Tengpora, left him injured.
2	29-06-2011	Shot dead Inspector Bashir Ahmad of J&K Police Telecommunication Wing in Bemina area
3	02-12-2011	Shot dead NC’s Block President Ghulam Mohammad Lone at Nattipora, Srinagar
4	11-12-2011	Fired upon ancestral house of Minister of Law Ali Mohammad Sagar at Zaldagar and shot dead his his PSO SgCt Gulzar Ahmad
5	24-12-2011	Shot dead NC worker Bashir Ahmad at Dhobi Mohalla, Batmaloo
6	09-03-2012	Fired upon former Director Information Farooq Reenzu’s PSO, Constable Afroz Hussain, and left him injured at Saraibala shrine.
7	17-03-2012	Fired upon 80-year-old Pir Jalal-ud-din and left him injured near Batmaloo Sahab shrine
8	20-04-2012	Shot dead ASI Sukhpal Singh at Darishkadal, near Safakadal
9	30-05-2012	Fired upon a contingent of CRPF 32 Bn at Victory Crossing Khanyar and left seven personnel injured
10	28-06-2012	Fired rifle grenades on Army installation at Tatoo Ground, Batmaloo
11	18-07-2012	Fired rifle grenades on Civil Secretariat Srinagar
12	10-08-2012	Shot dead retired Dy SP Abdul Hamid Bhat at a mosque in Firdausabad, Batmaloo

Eidgah crowd sets on fire Rakhshak, cops’ gun

Masked stone pelters clash with Police in Srinagar, 20 civilian vehicles damaged

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Aug 20: Violence marred festivity of Eid-ul-Fitr as crowds of separatist activists today clashed with Police and set a bullet-proof Rakhshak on fire after the congregational prayers at Eidgah, also damaging 20 private vehicles. Even as no arrests had been made until this evening, Police are said to be planning a major crackdown after having obtained a video clip and got over a dozen of the hooligans identified.

Barred from speaking to media, most of the Police officials refused to make comment or share details and the Government did not issue any statement on today’s violence at Eidgah till late this evening. However, well placed official sources revealed to Early Times that immediately after conclusion of the congregational Eid prayers at Eidgah, a group of separatist activists began shouting pro-Azadi and anti-India slogans. On sighting a Police vehicle in movement from Safakadal to Soura, it gheraoed the bullet-proof Rakhshak and overpowered its driver and three other Police personnel in it.

The group of 20 to 30 persons manhandled the captured Policemen severely and tore off their uniform. The one-odd constable, carrying an AK-47 rifle, was disarmed. Thereafter, the captured Rakhshak and the gun seized from a constable were set on fire. A senior Police officer told this newspaper that both, the Rakhshak as well as the rifle, suffered extensive damage in the fire. He said that the four captured Police personnel were let off after they were mercilessly beaten up and their uniform was torn into shreds. He said that the vehicle and the four men in it belonged to Police Post Qamarwari (Police Station Parimpora) and they were heading for SKIMS, Soura, to take custody of the dead body of one Sheikh Ghulam Hassan of Nandigam, Pulwama, (living in Qamarwari area). Injured in a road accident last week, Sheikh had died at the hospital today.

Sources said that all the four Policemen were later evacuated and rushed to hospital for medical treatment. Two of them were discharged and two others placed under treatment and observation.

Eyewitnesses corroborated the official sources’ account, saying that there was no provocation from Police or paramilitary forces. They said that minutes after attacking the Police party and torching a Rakhshak and a gun, scores of youngsters wearing Intifada-style masks resorted to intense stone pelting on Police, CRPF and the private vehicles in movement. As many as 20 civilian vehicles suffered damage. Glasspanes and windscreens of a number of private vehicles were smashed into smithereens. Thereupon, ding dong clashes continued between the masked stone pelters and Police for half-an-hour.

On one point of time, situation seemed to be worsening on the pattern of the turbulence on this day in 2010 when crowds from Eidgah had surged towards the Civil Lines area of Lalchowk, causing damage to a clock tower and setting a number of government building, including headquarters of the state Crime Branch, on fire. However, soon it became clear today that only a trickle of the gathering was interested in mayhem. With the exception of only one or two hundreds stone pelters, everybody drew back to home peacefully.

As the people returned to their homes after attending the congregational prayers---largest in Kashmir----and the stone pelters vanished into different neighbourhoods, calm prevailed at around the noon. Thereafter no incident of violence or clash was reported from anywhere in the capital city or elsewhere in the Valley. Traffic movement remained smooth and undisturbed for rest of the day.

Authoritative sources disclosed to this newspaper that in the afternoon Police succeeded in obtaining a detailed video clip of the attack on Police party and the Rakhshak. Explicit visuals of the attack helped Police to identify over a dozen of the attackers. “They will be all rounded up and booked under different provisions of law within next 24 hours”, a senior Police official maintained. He said that Police would launch a major crackdown on the stone pelters and the arsonists involved in attacking the Police party.

Chairman of the separatist Hurriyat Conference and cleric-politician, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had called upon residents of Srinagar to participate in the massive Eid-ul-Fitr prayers congregation at Eidgah. However, the authorities placed almost all the separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz, under “house arrest” and did not permit them to attend or address any of the Eid prayers congregation. Those confined at their respective residences in Srinagar also included head of the radical faction of Hurriyat, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Ahmad Shah, National Front chairman, Nayeem Khan, and JKLF Chairman, Mohammad Yasin Malik.

While the separatist politicians and clerics remained in confinement, with Police deployments around their houses and offices, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his father, Dr Farooq Abdullah, participated in the massive Eid prayers congregation at Hazratbal. With most of the state-controlled Wakf functionaries escorting and flanking Chief Minister and Dr Abdullah, the ruling National Conference top brass occupied the front row at the prayers at Hazratbal. Eyewitnesses said that there were no political speeches or demonstrations.

Elsewhere in Valley, thousands of devout Muslims participated in Eid-ul-Fitr congregational prayers at community mosques and Jamia Masjids in their localities. Unfazed by the violent incident at Eidgah in Srinagar, Valley observed Eid with traditional fervour and gaiety. The festival marks the end of the holy month of Ramzan, Muslims attired in white traditional outfits were seen greeting one another, hugging and shaking hands with friends and relatives. Even the traditional flashpoint of Anantnag, where followers of two conflicting schools of thought have clashed invariably every year on this occasion in the last several years, was calm today.

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Geelani demands release of all 891 political detainees

….but Govt withdraws plan of releasing any one of them

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Aug 18: Even as decks had been cleared for release of over a dozen separatist activists and leaders from different jails on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr, Government has suddenly withdrawn plan of setting any one of them free.

Reasons were not yet explicitly clear but well-placed authoritative sources revealed to Early Times that the decision of not releasing any one of the political detainees and prisoners was “final”. According to these sources, there was “serious difference of opinion” with regard to release of Muslim League chief and one-time Jamiatul Mujahideen functionary, Ashiq Hussain Faktoo alias Dr Qasim, and few others between sections of top ranking officials and politicians. “At the eleventh hour yesterday, Home Department decided not to release any of the separatist activists, commonly referred to as ‘political detainees’.

Principal Secretary Home, B R Sharma, made it clear tonight that none of the political detainees or prisoners was being released on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr. “In previous years, we used to have a number of such detainees who had been picked up for their involvement in stone pelting and other petty offences. This time around, we have none of such persons in jail”, Mr Sharma clarified to Early Times. He said that those present in jails were involved in serious criminal offences. Some of them were under-trials and others serving terms of imprisonment. As such, he said, there was no question of releasing any detainees or prisoners.

Since last week, most of the valley’s separatist leaders had been demanding release of all the political detainees. In their repeatedly issued statements, they had been invariably seeking release of ‘all political detainees” while leveling allegations against the Government that it had not shown any regard for basic human rights. 

At his massive anti-USA, anti-Israel and anti-India prayers congregation at Jamia Masjid yesterday, Chairman of the separatist Hurriyat Conference  (Mirwaiz group), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had called upon Omar Abdullah-led coalition government to release all political prisoners around the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr. He had alleged that the people identifying or sympathizing themselves with the separatist movement were being “tortured, humiliated and harassed” and the judicial orders in support of their release were not being implemented by Police.

In his today’s statement, hardline separatist and head of a different faction of Hurriyat, Geelani too echoed Mirwaiz Umar’s sentiments. He expressed his concern over the fact ‘political detainees’ were languishing in jails and they were not being set free even after getting court bail and release orders from different courts. He complained that the jail authorities had been meeting out inhuman treatment to the detainees and prisoners in jails, particularly in Jammu.

Geelani urged the Government to immediately release all the 891 political detainees including Faktoo, Massarat Alam Bhat, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, Mir Hafizullah, Mushtaq-ul-Islam, Dr Shafi Shariati, Mohammad Ayub Dar and Shakeel Ahmad Sofi. He said that of the 891, as many as 64 persons had been arrested and detained under the draconian ‘Pubic Safety Act’

END