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चैत्र कृष्ण पक्ष, शुक्रवार, चर्तुथी

News

Kin freed by militants, police recount ordeal


Date:- 02 Sep 2018


Ashiq Hussain  

Family members of militants detained by cops say were threatened by officials, relatives of policemen recount moments at gunpoint

From the verandah of his home, at around 8 pm on Thursday, Nasir Ahmad Mir saw a group of 7-8 men talking near his home. As he climbed down to enquire and revealed his name, they caught hold of him and put a cloth over his eyes.

“They bundled me into a vehicle and pointed a barrel of gun at me. What can one do when someone pins you with a gun,” he said.

Son of a policeman, Mir was picked up by suspected militants after police had detained fathers of two Hizbul Mujahideen militants including that of outfit’s operational commander Riyaz Naikoo on Wednesday night.

For the next 30 minutes, the vehicle kept going as they took away Mir’s phone and SIM card. Then he was forced to walk a few kilometers and when the blindfold opened he found himself in the middle of a forest amid scary darkness all around.

Mir, 25, said that first he thought that he was picked up by special operations group of police but ultimately realised that was not the case.

“In the morning I saw the men carrying guns, rockets and mines. They clicked my pictures and shot a video asking me to tell the DGP that they should not harass the families of militants,” Mir said.

Like Mir, 10 other relatives of policeman abducted from various places in the four districts of south Kashmir were asked to repeat these messages on video which ultimately flooded the social media in Kashmir.

Although the abductors did little interaction with Mir and talked in “coded language” with each other but they behaved nicely with him.

“They did not harass me. Although there was no cooked food but I was presented with multiple varieties of juices and dry food and fruits,” Mir, who has done his masters in commerce, said.

By Friday afternoon, the police allowed the relatives of militants to go to their homes. Within minutes, the news percolated into social media.

Mir said that the gunmen expressed their “compulsions” behind the abductions. “They told me that you are innocent and we don’t want to harass you. But they want police should also not harass their families back home,” Mir said.

THE OTHER SIDE

In his single storey house deep inside lush green Pulwama, Asadullah Naikoo spoke about multiple incidents of harassment he and his family have faced ever since his son, Riyaz Naikoo, left home to join militancy in 2012 and went on to become operational commander of Hizbul .

Pointing towards the windows and almirahs, Asadullah claimed his house had been raided and vandalised multiple times by security forces during these six years. “When the police detained me on August 29 at 11.20pm, that was the only instance among many during these years when I was not beaten up or abused and kept in a room instead of a lock-up at the local police station,” said Asadullah, a tailor by profession.

“They allowed me to wear clothes and shoes. The DSP (deputy superintendent of police) said ‘your son has issued a video statement talking about acid attacks on those taking part in panchayat polls’. He told me, ‘remember if something happens we will blast your home’,” Asadullah said.

Additional director general of police (law and order) Munir Ahmad Khan on Friday said the police do not vandalise property or harass militants’ relatives.

“We are a professional force and don’t believe in harassment of anybody. But any relative or friend of a militant who is involved in some illegal activity will be taken care of by the law.”

A few kilometres away in Dugripora, Lateef’s mother, Fatima, narrated something similar. She said the police had swooped on their house between 11.30pm and midnight, and took away her husband Ghulam Hassan, a

farmer, and their two sons, both wall painters.

“At the police station, they told him your son picked up the son of a policeman at Pinglish in Tral and we picked you up. They asked my husband to tell his son (Dar) to surrender and, in the same breath, conceded that he won’t listen,” Fatima said.

Families of Naikoo and Dar alleged that the police and army had been raiding their homes whenever any militancy-related incident occurred across the four districts of south Kashmir.

They narrated how the police vandalised their homes when a policeman was killed in October 2017. “When a policeman was killed (in October last year), some 10 men beat me up and abused me. They damaged the household items and took away small electronic things. I, my brother and two other members in my family were taken into custody. They let me go after 17 days. At the time of Aurangzeb’s killing, security men again assaulted my family members,” Asadullah said.

ashiq.hussain@htlive.com

Courtesy: Hindustan Times: 01 Sep 2018