Kashmir tense, militants give gun salute to killed Lashkar man
SRINAGAR: Thousands of people, including militants, participated on Saturday in the funeral of three alleged Lashkar-eTaiba men killed by security forces a day earlier when Kashmir saw a wave of bloodshed.
Much of Kashmir was tense on Saturday, prompting chief minister Mehbooba Mufti to make a renewed call for peace.
Friday’s deaths included top Lashkar commander Junaid Mattoo, who was seen as the third most prominent face of the insurgency after Burhan Wani and Sabzar Bhat. Militants at his funeral in Kashmir’s Kulgam district gave a gun salute, underscoring the challenge for security forces that often face hostility from civilians while pursuing militants.
Thousands of the attendees jostled to touch Mattoo’s body. Similar scenes played out during the funeral of the other two LeT militants, Nasir Wani and Adil Mir. Mattoo, like Wani and Bhat, enjoyed support from sections in the Valley.
Wani was killed in July last year — a death that triggered one of the worst phases of violence for the region and left at least 100 civilians dead — and Bhat was killed late last month.
Union defence minister Arun Jaitley hit out at the insurgents on Saturday, calling the killing of five policemen on Friday an “act of cowardice”.
Mattoo’s outfit, the LeT, claimed the attack as a revenge for his death. The Jammu and Kashmir director general of police (DGP) promised on Saturday to catch the suspects “very soon”. Two civilians, including a teenager, were also killed on Friday when forces opened fire on people pelting stones at them in an apparent attempt to intervene in the operation against Mattoo and the two LeT rebels.
The opposition National Conference and the Congress protested outside the assembly against ‘innocent killings’.
Mehbooba Mufti said instances of 12 year-old boys going to encounter sites with stones in their hands or the killings of policemen were a repercussion of democracy being denied in the state.
“Guns or army can’t solve any issues. Only dialogue can,” she said in the assembly.
AWANTIPORA:In a chronicle of his death foretold, Feroz Ahmed Dar wrote, “Just imagine...yourself in your grave. Down there in that dark hole...Alone.”
The 32-year-old Jammu and Kashmir police officer was buried on Friday night in the family’s ancestral graveyard in Dogripora village in Pulwama district, with many from the village and his department bidding him a tearful farewell.
Dar and five other policemen were killed on Friday when suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants ambushed a police party in Anantnag’s Achabal area. The militants also tried to disfigure the faces of the policemen before walking away with their weapons.
As his family and friends prepared for the last journey, Dar’s words written on January 18, 2013, came back to haunt. “Did you ever stop for a while and asked yourself, what is going to happen to me the first night in my grave? Think about the moment your body is being washed and prepared to your grave.
“Think about the day people will be carrying you to your grave And your families crying ...think about the moment you are put in your grave,” he had written on his Facebook wall.