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Hundreds mourn Srinagar resident Mohammad Ibrahim Khan

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 09:05:35 +0000

Image Courtesy:dnpindia.in

Hundreds attended the funeral prayers for Srinagar resident Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, a civilian who was shot dead, allegedly by militants, on Monday evening in Bohri Kadal Srinagar. According to reports Khan was working as a salesperson at a shop owned by a Kashmir Pandit.

J&K | Hundreds of people attended the funeral prayer of civilian Mohammad Ibrahim Khan from Eidgah Srinagar who was shot dead by militants yesterday evening in Bohri Kadal Srinagar. He was working at a shop run by Kashmir Pandit.
Pics | Shakeel/Excelsior pic.twitter.com/XGaaqyUWIe

— Daily Excelsior (@DailyExcelsior1) November 9, 2021

The 45-year-old local resident of Srinagar was killed on Monday in the second such attack on civilians in the 24 hours, stated news reports. Khan, a resident of Bandipora, was rushed to hospital and succumbed to his injuries. According to news reports police issued a statement that said, “Preliminary investigation has revealed that terrorists had fired upon one civilian identified as Mohammad Ibrahim Khan son of Ghulam Mohammad Khan resident of Astengoo Bandipora at Borikadal area of Srinagar. In this terror incident, he had sustained critical gunshot injuries and was immediately shifted to a nearby hospital for the treatment where he succumbed to his injuries.” It further said, “Iinvestigation is in progress and officers continue to work to establish the circumstances which lead to this terror crime. The area has been cordoned off and searches in the area is going on.”

Khan’s murder is reportedly the second in 24 hours in the Union Territory. On Sunday, militants had shot dead a Jammu and Kashmir Police constable near his home in Srinagar, stated news reports. Last month alone, around 11 civilians have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir, all allegedly by militants. According to news reports, The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for most of the killings.

Khan was a salesperson at the shop owned by a Kashmiri Pandit that had been re-opened in early 2019 after remaining closed for 29 years. According to Indian Express, Khan worked at a shop run by Roshan Lal Mawa who “had migrated to Delhi at the onset of militancy in the Valley in the early ’90s,” and had returned to Srinagar in May 2019 and reopened his wholesale grocery store in the Old City area. Khan is now being hailed for standing by the Kashmiri Pandit community.

Jab kashmir me situation kharab the tab v ibrahim khan ne kashmir k logo ko madad karne me koi kasar nhi chhoda yhi unke shakhsiyat ki misaal hai#IbrahimIsKashmir pic.twitter.com/8BqJr8h7cS

— !! भूमिजा !! (@Tumhari_bhumija) November 9, 2021

According to National Conference leader Omar Abdullah “Unfortunately Ibrahim is the latest in a series of targeted killings in the valley, especially Srinagar.”

The dastardly killing of Ibrahim is reprehensible & I unreservedly condemn it. Unfortunately Ibrahim is the latest in a series of targeted killings in the valley, especially Srinagar. May Allah grant him place in Jannat. https://t.co/ENuuRTLXgP

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 8, 2021

“Security situation in J&K has deteriorated to an extent where not a week goes by when an innocent doesn’t lose his life. Unfortunate that despite repressive measures taken in name of security, people are being killed,” stated Mehbooba Mufti

Security situation in J&K has deteriorated to an extent where not a week goes by when an innocent doesn’t lose his life.Unfortunate that despite repressive measures taken in name of security, people are being killed & have no sense of dignity or normalcy.Condolences to his family https://t.co/hZIhM2pHua

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 9, 2021

According to NDTV, police have launched a major crackdown in Kashmir “and detained over 900 people suspected to be linked with separatists” and claim that most of the terrorists involved in recent targeted attacks were killed in encounters. “Over 5,000 additional troops were also brought in to deal with the situation even as Kashmir is already saturated with security forces,” stated the news report.

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‘No outsiders in Kashmir’: Militants target non-locals, gun down apple traders and migrant labourers

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 07:15:20 +0000

Most non-locals had left Kashmir after the August 5 announcement of the abrogation of Article 370

Image Courtesy: News18/Aaakash Hassan

Almost two months after the abrogation of Article 370 when people started trickling back into the Valley, militants targeted non-Kashmiris to create an atmosphere of fear among the people.

On October 16, Charanjeet Singh, an apple trader from Punjab was gunned down at Tranz, Shopian; SethiSahasSagar, a 29-year-old labourer from Chattisgarh was shot to death in South Kashmir. On October 14, Sharif Khan, a truck driver was shot dead at Shrimal, Shopian soon after postpaid mobile phone services were restored in the Valley.

Officials and political observers had braced for a spike in violence after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A, ending the special constitutional provisions that Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed. While the security establishment expected a spike in violence, such calibrated attacks on non-locals are a new trend in the valley.

Speaking to New Indian Express, an expert said, “Militant activity choked by the shutdown and high vigilance on the ground has to break out to maintain its own relevance, or they die a philosophical death. They will try to hit out and prove the abrogation of Articles 370 is counter-productive.”

“By killing the non-locals, militants want to convey the message to non-locals: ‘don’t dare to come here’.” AjaiSahni, Executive Director of the Institute for Conflict Management, said terrorists know they cannot execute complex operations, so non-locals are their “obvious soft” targets.

Threats to Apple Traders
Security officials state that the mission of the militants is to disrupt the revival of economic activity which is the target of the government. The security agencies see these attacks as a desperate attempt of militants to bully apple traders.

According to the police, militants have been consistently threatening apple traders to not pluck the yield since the start of the harvest season in September. Threats have come by the way of posters that have been put up at various places across the fruit belt of Kashmir.

“I am only picking up the fruits and packing them. The killing of a driver will have a bearing on sale and transportation”, said Javed Ahmad, an apple grower in Shopian.

Truckers have been a regular target of the militants these past few days. While some of them are allowed to carry essential commodities, many are not allowed to load apples for different destinations across the country.

Although growers went ahead to harvest their crop, two significant fruit Mandis in Sopore and Shopian continue to remain shut. Many drivers have accused the government of forcing them to go to Kashmir and fetch apples without any assurance of security. Also, many Kashmir bound loaded trucks are parked at Jammu and drivers are reluctant to go to Kashmir in fear of being attacked.

Talking to Daily Excelsior, truck driver Prem Singh from Punjab said that he had gone to Shopian to load apple boxes to be transported to Delhi, but some youth with lathis intercepted his truck near a village, damaged it and also beat him and his cleaner up asking them not to return to Kashmir again. Prem Singh suffered a loss of over Rs. 35,000.

In wake of these increasing attacks, the government is finally taking note of the situation and helping traders by letting them procure the crop directly from farmers through the National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED).

The Message behind the Attacks
The unprecedented attacks on non-locals, especially the first in case of migrant labour, has compelled the government to take stock of the situation. Political observers say that these attacks stem from issues related to identity and culture, sending a message that non-locals are not welcome in Kashmir.

It is also said that these protests are in retaliation to Haryana CM ManoharLalKhattar’s misogynistic statement about men now being able to marry Kashmiri girls.

The first death of a non-local surfaced in September when Sufi Alam, a mason, a migrant labourer was shot at by militants in Sopore. He was one of the hundred labourers who stayed back in Kashmir even when thousands fled the state of Kashmir in the run-up to the announcement about revoking J&K’s special status.

While Kashmir is slowly inching back to life, after the shutdown and communication blockade, it is to be seen whether the imposed political vacuum will lead to the eruption of a massive militant movement or there will be enough security to ensure that peace in the Valley is fully restored.

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Finding ‘solace in arms’, Teenage Militant Mudasir shattered dreams of his poor family

Mon, 17 Dec 2018 05:44:07 +0000

On 5th December, a daunting picture went Viral on Social Media in which 14 year old Cute Boy holding an AK-47 in one hand and and Knife in another. Mudasir a resident of Khankah Mohalla of Hajin town along with 16 year old Saqib Bilal had gone missing from home on 31 August this year after an encounter took place in Hajin town in which three Foreign Militants were Killed. Both the Families were in shock after they heard that both have left their homes.

Five days after his picture went on social media holding with AK- 47, he was trapped in a Gunfight in Mujgund area of outskirts on the Srinagar and was killed in 18 hours long Gunfight along with his local Friend Saqib Bilal and Pakistani Militant Ali Bhai.

The family of deceased Militant Mudasir searched him from post to pillar, after he left his home to play at the local Eidgah. Family is surprised as he was living his life normally with his Family and his friends. Family members did not believe Mudasir had joined militants till his picture holding with AK- 47 and Knife surfaced on social media. Earlier they lodged his missing report in Hajin Police Station after failing to contact him.

Soon after his picture went viral, His family had made vehement appeals to him to return home.” I appeal him, wherever he is, to come back home as soon possible. Don’t leave us like this,” his mother said day after his picture holding AK-47 went viral. Mudasir is survived by his parents, an sister and a brother.

Militancy has been growing in this North Kashmir’s Hajin town since the killing of Militant commander Burhan Wani in July 2016. “It wasn’t the kind of family you’d expect to produce a militant,” a local said.

His family says he was never inclined towards militancy however his friends maintain that he was connected with militants since the killing of Burhan Wani in 2016.

Fareeda Begum, mother of Mudasir, said that she never wanted separation from her son like this. I was unaware about his joining militant ranks after his missing in August, had I been aware of this, I would have never allowed him to go out of home, because I didn’t want a separation from my son like this, she said, as tears rolling down from her eyes. Scores of women from the neighbourhood tried to console her, but failed.

Mudasir’s Family is living in a single room with heart patient mother Fareeda, father is a chronic patient with 16 stiches in back, handicapped brother and a little sister. Fareeda his mother, is still in grief and Shock that his son has been killed. Mudasir was not my son only, but a hope, Lone bread earner who would also work as a labourer on part time basis to help the family financially as my another son is handicapped. When Mudasir left home in August, I was on way to Sopore and asked him to accompany me to Sopore but Mudasir refused and silently left toward the playfield. It was the last time I saw him, she said.

Soon after his missing, I went from pillar to post, I searched him from dawn to dusk, but Mudasir was nowhere. I am still waiting for his arrival, she said while wailing. When Mudasir’s body reached home on, his mother fareeda didn’t believe that she met his son with blood and bullets after three months. Fareeda while wailing said “Doudh haa cheey wyn praaczan lour’uy, waey, Baa karay ghoor ghooro. The milk is still on your lips, Let me cradle you, You are still to drink my milk, Let me cradle you.”

Maimoona, his sister in corner of his single room broke into tears, said that I was so happy that Mudasir will afford my all expenses and will fulfil my all dreams as my another brother is handicapped, but all dreams crushed.

Mudasir was first arrested during during 2016 unrest in a Stone Pelting case and was lodged in a police station Hajin for over a week, he was later released after counselling, said one of his relative. He feels that Mudasir joined Militant ranks after the killing of their close relative Abid Mir in Sopore who was killed in an encounter, he said while broke into tears. He believes that this was his turning point.

Locals of Khankah Mohalla remember Mudasir as a shy but courageous young boy. He was very humble and everyone loved him in the village. We don’t believe even today that he is dead because we all loved him, they said. Mudasir is perhaps the youngest militant to have laid down his life, the neighbours said.

SSP Bandipora Sheikh Zulifikar Azad said that he joined Militant ranks soon after three Foreign Militants were Killed in a gunfight at Paribal area of Hajin town. What can you do? We tried our level to get him back, but he didn’t.

Hajin town was once home and base of dreaded anti insurgency force Ikhwan, a home-bred counter-insurgency militia, led by Kuka Parray, But the time is long gone now Hajin is considered as hot bed of Militants.

Author is Freelancer Journalist based in Kashmir and can be mailed at Khuehamiayaan@gmail.com

Photographs contributed to the story by Sajid Raina.

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org/

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