Thousands turn up for J&K cop’s funeral

IN THE backdrop of militants issuing threats to Jammu and Kashmir policemen in the Valley, north Kashmir’s Langate village witnessed a huge funeral procession for a policeman who was killed by militants.

The cop, identified as Abdul Kareem, 37, was killed on Saturday evening when unidentified militants attacked a police patrol at Choughal in Handwara. No militant outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.

Kareem was posted at police chowki Choughal on the outskirts of Handwara town. He is survived by three children (two daughters and a son), his wife and an aged mother. His wife is expecting another baby.

Kareem, who hailed from Laach village in Langate, is also the neighbour of Langate MLA Sheikh Rashid, who attended the funeral. Locals said that it was one of the biggest funeral processions for a policeman in the area, especially in the aftermath of the five-month-long unrest in the Valley in which more than 90 civilians were killed and thousands injured.

The funeral was held at the Eidgah, and locals said that more than four thousand people participated in it. “He (Kareem) was a good human being and never troubled any villager. He always used to help his neighbours and will be missed by everybody in the village .... His was one of the biggest funerals in our area in the recent past,’’ Ghulam Qadir, neighbour, said.

Last month, Hizbul Mujahideen commander Zakir Rashid alias Musa released a video warning to J&K policemen against harassing the family members of militants.

“By involving our families you have made a big mistake, this war was between you and us but you have involved our families in this war,’’ he warned in the one-minute video.

MLA Rashid said that the J&K Police mostly comprised local youth, whose aspirations were similar to those of the other residents.

“Every Kashmiri whosoever he may be wants his political sentiments and aspirations to be addressed and the local cops can never be denied the right of having feelings towards the popular sentiment,” said Rashid. He also asked United Jihad Counsel (UJC), an amalgam of militant outfits based in Muzaffarabad, to understand the compulsions of common policemen.

“UJC needs to keep in mind that about one lakh jawans of J&K Police cannot be left isolated...it is high time for all the stakeholders to give up arrogance and stop humanity from bleeding by resolving the Kashmir dispute,” he added.

In the past one year, there have been more than a dozen attacks on the local policemen. On November 25, two policemen were killed and another injured in a militant attack in Kulgam.