Mob fury took an ugly turn in Pampore and nearby Khrew where a police station blast claimed five lives. Khursheed Wani reports.
The twin towns of Pampore and Khrew witnessed the worst phase of death and destruction continuing in the Kashmir Valley since June. On Sunday, August 1, eight persons including a 16-year-old girl got killed in the two towns in three interconnected incidents of violence. The inhabitants of the prosperous towns who otherwise remain engrossed in their businesses are dumbstruck and vent their feelings through continued shutdown, blockades and slogan-shouting.
The trouble began on Sunday morning, when hundreds of people including women and children emanated from every nook and cranny of the saffron town- Kadlabal, Namlabal, Frastabal, Tulbagh, Drangabal- to protest against the string of killings at the hands of police and paramilitaries in other towns of the Valley. They were joined by protestors from adjoining villages like Patalbagh, Hatiwara, Bagandhar, Alochibagh and Galender. The marchers assembled at the Srinagar-Jammu Highway and began a sit-in. Police and paramilitary CRPF men tried to disperse them but they continued with anti-India and pro-independence slogan shouting. An eyewitness Omar said, “The men in khaki then resorted to their tested method of lathi charge, teargas shelling and finally opening direct fire on the protestors”. A day before protestors had set ablaze two vehicles of the Indian Air Force in the town.
The bullets were showered indiscriminately, Omar said. “There was pell-mell. Everybody ran for life hitting each other, stumbling, recovering and running away again,” he narrated while nursing a wound inflicted by a tear-smoke shell’s strike. Nayeem Ahmad Shah, a 20-year mechanic was hit by several bullets and fell down. He was rushed to hospital but doctors declared him brought-dead. Another 18-year-old youngster Rayees Ahmad Wani was rushed to Ahmad’s Nursing Home at Nowgam Bypass but he died before doctors could initiate methods to save his life. The bullets even did not spare a 10-year-old girl who is now recuperating in a Srinagar hospital.
When mayhem was in progress in Pampore, a group of slogan shouting youngsters began a protest march in nearby Khrew township, which is more known for cement production and a decades-old brigade headquarters of the Army. The marchers were on way to Pampore. “The procession was peacefully marching but police and SOG men intercepted them resulting into a confrontation,” witnesses said. The angry protesters then attacked a counterinsurgency camp of police with stones. The policemen, they alleged, retaliated with opening the barrels of their guns. In a matter of minutes, at least 13 persons were left with bullet wounds.
Afroza Akhtar Teli, who was on lookout for her younger brother, was hit in her head while Riyaz Ahmad Bhat, 22, was injured with several bullets piercing upper parts of his body. While Afroza died in Soura Medical Institute soon after she was taken there for treatment, Bhat battled for life for three days but ultimately breathed his last in the intensive ward of the Institute.
There was silence of graveyard in the two towns after the firing incidents and deaths. However, worst was to follow.
When body of a youngster was brought to Pampore, passions rose high again, said a local Ghulam Qadir. During the funeral procession, people shouted slogans. This irritated the police and paramilitaries and they again opened fire on the protestors. This triggered a massive resentment and the protestors went on rampage. The enraged protesters set on fire Tehsildar’s office, a court building and attacked the local police station. They burnt down a government vehicle and a police Gypsy. Such was the rage among the protestors that a woman was filmed beating a burning police vehicle with a stick.
But, the rage in Khrew town took the ugliest turn. An eyewitness Jehangir told Kashmir Life that the town began simmering following the reports that a posse of CRPF intercepted the private vehicle at Panthachowk that was carrying wounded Afroza to hospital. “We heard that the cops not only beat up people accompanying the wounded female but also deliberately wasted time,” he said. One report said that during this halt at Panthachowk, Afroza breathed her last and taking her to hospital was just a formality.
When Afroza’s body reached the town, hundreds of protestors came out on streets and began a strong demonstration. A group of youngsters led the protestors to nearby police station where a skeletal number of policemen was on guard. Sensing trouble by the outrageous advance of the protestors, the policemen left their fort and fled for lives without offering any resistance. This encouraged the senseless mob and they took over the police building. In a few minutes, the building was set on fire. As the flames rose high, there was a deafening blast at around 7: 30 pm that shook the earth in a diameter of three kilometers. A senior police officer said that the blast occurred in the ammunition room of the police building which crumbed under the impact of the explosion.
“After the blast, there was smoke everywhere. I could see parts of human bodies scattered everywhere…on the branches of trees. On the roadside”, Jehangir said.
Witnesses said three person died on the spot while scores others were injured. One of the dead was identified as Javaid Ahmad Sheikh, 22, of Wuyan. Six persons were shifted to SMHS hospital in a critical condition where one of them Muhammad Amin Lone, 22, was declared brought dead. Deputy inspector General of Police (south Kashmir) Shafqat Watali confirmed death of four persons in the blast.
Sources said that apart from widespread anger and protests in the Valley, there were local irritations also for eruption in Pampora and Khrew towns. The role of middle-rung police officer in Pampore, who began targeting all and sundry soon after deployment, was among the major irritations. Also, the anger was simmering against the police for their failure to launch effective crackdown against the saffron adulteration racket thriving in the locality. Locals say that the police raised the lid from the racket but failed to take the investigations to conclusion, allegedly after the bigwigs involved in the scam fleeced their palms.
Pampore’s predominant population follows proletarian line of faith and the shrine of Shokhbab Sahib is the fountainhead of their moderate beliefs where hundreds of petty non-local labourers are fed in charity every day. However, as a local cleric puts it, the continued suppression (by security forces and renegades) has turned these peace-loving people into outrageous arsonists. He mentions that a notorious counterinsurgent, Papa Kishtwari, who is now jailed for killing a youngster, killed around 70 persons in cold blood in the town in mid-90s including a veteran journalist and a teenaged son of the Grand Mosque’s Imam. “No responsibility was fixed on those killing. This fulminates resentment and intolerance, he says.
The widely known saffron fields of the town, which were known for love-at-first-sight saga of Habba Khatoon and King Yousuf Shah Chak and stories of endurance of Lal Ded—are in a deep mourning.
