Valley shedding tears for militants after 15 years
2 militants killed in Pampore gunbattle, civilian gunned down in Sopore

AHMED ALI FAYYAZ

SRINAGAR, Jan 8: With the coalition government’s failure to tackle ‘agitational terrorism’---Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s phrase for the Kashmiris’ fresh support for militants---and the Opposition and mainstream politicians outsmarting each other over the issues of dialogue and demilitarization, a section of people in the Valley has begun to sing a new song for guerrillas after a long pause of 15 years. Even as security forces today eliminated two more militants in a fresh gunbattle in Pampore and suspected militants gunned down a civilian in Sopore, youngsters in Srinagar, Sopore and Baramulla took to the streets to pay homage of clashing with Police to the two militants killed in a gunbattle in the capital city on Thursday.

Authoritative sources in south Kashmir told Early Times that over a specific information provided by Special Operations Group of District Police Srinagar, Awantipore Police, CRPF and Army swooped on Andersoo hamlet in the Police and forces-dominated locality of Khrew in Pampore area early this morning. During the course of house-to-house search operation, two heavily armed militants hiding at the house of one Nazir Ahmed Bhat S/o Abdul Rehman Bhat opened fire and made desperate attempts to escape from the cordoned area.

In a fierce retaliation, Police and security forces gunned down both the militants. SP Awantipore, Bashir Ahmed Khan, told mediapersons that Police acted on a specific information and killed both the militants hiding in the village in a fierce gunbattle. He said that Bhat’s house suffered extensive damage and claimed that none among Police, security forces or civilians was harmed in the whole operation.

SP Awantipore identified the militants killed in the gunbattle as Zahoor Ahmed Mir alias Haroon S/o Khizar Mohammad Mir R/o Armulla, Pulwama, and Altaf Ahmed Mir alias Mohsin S/o Mohammad Yusuf Mir R/o Chursoo, Awantipore. He claimed that both the militants killed in the gunbattle were Kashmiri cadres of Lashkar-e-Toiba, even as they had previously worked with Hizbul Mujahideen. He said that two AK-56 rifles were in the arms and ammunition recovered from the debris of the destroyed house.

A spokesman of J&K Police claimed that Haroon and Mohsin had been found responsible for causing an IED blast near Srinagar Central Jail on September 12th, 2009, and firing on a Police party at Pamore on December 22nd same year. In the IED blast at Kathidarwaza, near Srinagar Central Jail, militants had targeted and damaged a vehicle of District Police Pulwama, killing two Police personnel and a civilian woman. During the investigation, Altaf Ahmed Mir alias Mohsin had figured as the man who had planned and executed the strike but Police had failed to get him until today.

In the shootout at Pampore on December 22nd last, two Police personnel had died and one more had sustained injuries. The spokesman claimed that both, Haroon and Mohsin, had been found involved in it. Police had been in search of the duo particularly since last fortnight.

Meanwhile, official sources in north Kashmir said that unidentified gunmen, widely believed to be regrouped militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba, gunned down one Bilal Ahmed Chaproo S/o Mohammad Sultan Chaproo R/o Bilal Colony, Armpora (Sopore) in broad daylight at 1400 hours today. After his arrest and detention, Chaproo had quit militancy and had been working as a Village Level Worker in Rural Development Department. Regrouping and resurfacing after a pause of nearly three years, militants have spread a fresh wave of terror in Sopore area with nearly a dozen incidents, including killing of four CRPF personnel in a strike, in the last two months.

With the militants now also surfacing in Srinagar and Pulwama districts, a section of people has begun to take to the streets in praise of the slain guerrillas at several places in Srinagar, Baramulla and Sopore. Valley is significantly witnessing this phenomenon after a long pause of nearly 15 years.

While scores of youth in Maisuma locality of the capital city clashed with Police in ding-dong stone pelting during the course of Lalchowk gunbattle yesterday and also today, reports of similar clashes poured in from at least six spots in downtown Srinagar and four spots in Baramulla and Sopore. Participants in these demonstrations, known as “agitational terrorism” in New Delhi, paid homage to the two fidayeen killed in the Lalchowk gunbattle. They also demanded removal of CRPF bunkers from Lalchowk and enforced business shutdown on the third consecutive day in the major nerve centre in Srinagar.

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