Militant, civilian killed in encounter
Security forces killed a newly-recruited local militant of Hizbul Mujahideen in an overnight gun battle and an unidentified person died in the ensuing crossfire in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, police said on Friday.
According to a police spokesperson based in Srinagar, the militant identified as Yawar Nissar Shergujri alias Algazi was gunned down and two militants managed to give the security forces a slip under the cover of the darkness.
Sources said the forces had cordoned off the area on Thursday evening but there was no contact with the militants till late night. The encounter, according to police, started at around midnight Karvel area of Anantnag, 55km from Srinagar.
“During search operation, terrorists fired on the search party resulting in exchange of fire. At around midnight taking advantage of darkness two terrorists fired and managed to give a slip. Cutoff party of army retaliated fire,’’ said a statement.
Yawar, 30, according to police was an overground worker and was wanted in many cases of stone pelting. He was a resident of Anantnag. “Yawar was a chronic stone pelter who had joined militants only 30 days back,’’ said an official.
A soldier of 3 Rashtriya Rifles, who was identified as rifleman Rohit Kumar, also sustained injuries.
Police also said an unidentified person, who was in multilayered clothing, riding on a “Yamaha Libero with a damaged number plate” was caught in the cross fire.
“No material leading to identity or I-card could be retrieved. Two mobile phones (Nokia 1209 and Jivi-N300) were recovered from the said individual,’’ the spokesperson said.
The telephone contacts in his handset could not immediately help to confirm his identity. Police are trying to ascertain the identity of the civilian. The NIA custody of four Kashmiri separatists, including the son-in-law of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, was on Friday extended by ten days by a Delhi court in a terror funding case. Special Judge OP Saini, however, sent three other separatist leaders to judicial custody for a month after NIA agency did not seek their custody.
BJP’s West Bengal unit will adopt a new slogan “Save Bengal from becoming Kashmir” in the run-up to the rural polls in the state in an attempt to step up the rhetoric in its campaign against the TMC government.
The new line of campaign will try to exploit the post-Basirhat situation in the state. “We will cite the example of these riots and tell the people that unless TMC is resisted, the future Bengal would be like that of Kashmir where terrorist activities from across the border is a regular feature,” said a BJP Yuva Morcha leader.
The idea of the new slogan mentioning Kashmir came from a comment made by BJP leader and MP, Meenakshi Lekhi, who came to Bengal to visit Basirhat. Commenting on the communal flare up on July 9, she said that Bengal is on the verge of becoming Kashmir and the people are not safe there.
BJP has also highlighted the 2014 Burdwan blast that killed two and exposed a flourishing network of Bangladeshi jihadi elements in at least four Bengal districts, where they made IEDs and indoctrinated youth.
Over the past few years, BJP leaders have repeatedly alleged that Mamata Banerjee’s party has connived at infiltration from across the Bangladesh border that has posed a danger to both the law and order and economy of the region.
According to BJP’s national secretary and former state president, Rahul Sinha, it is the duty of BJP to highlight that TMC is the root cause an alarming law and order situation in the state. “We want to make an early beginning of our campaign for the panchayat polls and we are confident that our performance will be satisfactory despite all apprehension of terror unleashed by the ruling party,” Sinha told HT.