Protests in Kreeri were small and localised until a local youth went missing after police dispersed on a protest. Haroon Mirani reports.
The 2010 agitation in Kashmir has seen different areas erupting in protests spontaneously. While most of the events are related in larger picture, some localised causes have lent a spark.
For instance in Kreeri area of Baramulla, protests went out of control once a local youth went missing in the aftermath of a small protest.
The problems began on July 28 when a protest march was intercepted by police and CRPF at Choru in Kreeri. The freedom sloganeering youths were subjected to tear smoke shelling and baton charge. In the commotion one youth Farhat Bashir went missing. People suspected the disappearance of the youth to be a handiwork of Special Operations Group (SOG) of police. As the police was unable to give any satisfactory answer, protests intensified with people getting swayed by the rumours.
On Friday, July 30, rumours of Farhat’s Farhat killing in the SOG camp spread in Kreeri. Thousands of people marched towards the SOG camp raising slogans and demanding Farhat’s body. At least 15 persons were injured when the SOG personnel fired tear smoke shells and live ammunition to repel the protests. Tension kept on increasing in the area as Farhat’s whereabouts were still not traced. People alleged that the boy was subjected to disappearance after being arrested by the infamous SOG.
On Saturday (July 31) too the area remained volatile as people defied curfew to take on the troops. Demanding whereabouts of Farhat, thousands of people clashed with police and CRPF. The protests were largely peaceful until the march of demonstrators towards Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road was stopped near the Special Operation Group (SOG) camp, by police and SOG.
“This triggered the outburst of emotions among the people, who attacked the local SOG camp with stones and later on set it on fire, when the SOG personnel vacated the camp,” said one eye witness. “The police and the SOG men opened fire on the protestors, injuring at least 20, including two women.”
Of the 20 injured, three including two women were critical and they were shifted to SKIMS Soura from Sub District Hospital Kreeri. The constant rumours about the death of women continued to keep Kreeri on boil.
The three have been identified as Haneefa, Gulshana and Mohammed Ashraf.
After the afternoon clashes, people again came out on roads to protest and this time they were joined by adjoining villagers. Swelling in thousands they marched towards Choora Village on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway.
“This time the protestors encircled a police post at Pathukha and tried to storm it. The cops lobbed dozens of tear smoke shells and opened fire to quell the protestors,” eyewitnesses said. “The ding dong battle remained for a long time and only subsided after darkness prevailed.” In these five persons were injured who were rushed to SDH Kreeri for treatment.
The police statement of that day read, “Protesters attacked old Police Station and Horticulture buildings and set them ablaze. Protesters also assaulted a trooper and attempted to snatch his weapon. Several policemen were injured in the attack.”
As the protests reached to other places too, the demonstrators in Pattan blocked the Srinagar-Jammu national highway for several hours by cutting trees on the road.
The situation in Pattan turned deadly when police fired indiscriminately on the protestors killing two. One of the persons was identified as 16-year-old Adil Ramzan Sheikh of Palhalan Pattan and another as Nazir Ahmad Mir of Sheeri Baramulla, who was working at a bakery in Pattan. Adil had bullet wound in his chest. The killings aggravated the situation.
“We were protesting peacefully outside the police station when the SOG persons fired at us in which Adil was hit in the leg,” said an eye witness at the scene. “We later took him to hospital and soon SOG persons barged into the hospital beat up doctors and shot dead Adil while firing on his chest.”
Police said that the protestors set fire to a police vehicle, but protestors give a different version. They allege that the vehicle was burnt down by soem SOG mean and protestors were accused for the arson. “We know the identity of the culprit SOG person and we even tried to burn down his house, but his aged father pleaded that it is his house and he has nothing to do his son,” said one protestor.
The town is still tense, and there have been many protests since. Residents fear that any bad news or rumour about the missing boy will make the town erupt again. Till now police has not been able to locate Farhat.
