Villagers refute army’s human shield narrative

stone pelter was hung around his neck and the jeep drove away around 11am.

11.30am. Najan: Panic was beginning to sweep the village with reports reaching that an army jeep was on the move with a man tied on it.

The jeep shortly arrived, having snaked its way past the villages of Ganipora, Hayatpora and Sonpa. Najan was itself quiet with no reports of stone pelting. But the villagers were in ferment at the sight of a tied Dar.

Minutes after the jeep reached Najan, Dar’s brother Fayaz received a call from a local. “Save your brother. He might just die. He is on an army jeep tied up and the vehicle has now reached Najan,” recounted Fayaz.

1.30pm, Khospora: This village was quiet till the jeep arrived. But after the jeep with Dar tied to it left following a brief stopover, protests broke out.

Polling for the by-poll under way in the village was discontinued. Villagers say they pleaded with the soldiers to let Dar go. “One of the old men begged the soldiers to let the man off. When they did not listen, he requested them to at least loosen the ropes and let him drink water,” a resident said. The soldiers did not heed the old man’s plea.

2.30pm, Rakhayee: Qurant Ul Ain, a seven-year-old class 3 student, ran home scared on seeing the jeep with Dar. “I thought they were taking him to be killed. I ran immediately inside my house and didn’t step out for next two days,” he said. Because of elections, schools were closed and most children were in their courtyards when the jeep made its appearance.

3pm, Arizhal: This village too was quiet that day till the jeep arrived. “I had seen Dar on the jeep with my own eyes. Anyone with a weak heart would have died seeing what we saw,” a local tailor said.

3.15pm, Mandi: Here too, residents were mortified seeing Dar tied to the jeep. “I thought they had tied a dead man,” recounted a woman who was grazing cattle. A class eight student said he ran on seeing the jeep. “I thought that I will be next,” he said.

4pm, Hardpanzoo: The jeep finally drove into a Central Reserve Police Force camp. According to Dar, it was here he was untied from the jeep. He, however, was still bound by ropes.